[reviews] afe114lcd
ur + craig hilton: i will be the light

Indirectly it was Maurizio Bianchi who brought Ur and Craig Hilton together. Craig just had collaborated with Bianchi for the "PU 94" recordings when one of the Ur members had an interview with him. Ur and Craig even never met each other but Ur did send Craig a tape to manipulate and rework, telling him he was free to do whatever he wanted.

The results of this distant collaboration I have in front of me called "I will Be the Light", named after an article of LSD guru Timothy Leary. Timothy said that he wanted to be cremated, and that he wanted to get his ashes into space.

A sound of rattling static is starting "The Path Beneath". Subliminal sounds rise from this electrified static, and slowly you will get in more mellow atmospheres with shifting sounds of manipulated voice. The music is full of static, drones and fluxing sounds that swift in the atmosphere like a colossal spaceship in the vast universe and is coming nearer very slow.

While listening to "I Will Be the Light" you'll get sucked in the atmosphere very easily as the sounds are consumer friendly. The music slowly evolves and the lengthy tracks seems to be separated in chapters as the sounds continually changes from static to more recognisable sounds like brass and voice.

In "Essential Salt" space has been penetrated deeply with a spacious sound and a slow brass melody. Crystal tinkling and silent static adding some extra depth and psychedelia.

Maurizio Bianchi doesn"t seem very far away as influence to this work and the metal rattling and scraping has the subtlety of Organum. Ingredients to make sure you are dealing with a fascinating album with a symbiosis between noise and spacious ambient.

[Remco]