Talk about accumulations of streaming guitars, and I’m all ears. However, not everybody can do it right. This is probably the sonic area where the line separating rapturous from appalling is next to invisible. My mailbox is systematically invaded by dozens of outings containing the results of a dilettante’s wet dreams (which, more often than not, are enthusiastically received by a sizable chunk of short-sighted analysts) or, even worse, the disposable remnants of a “name” willing to fool a loyal audience without serious commitment.
On this split LP we were blessed enough to find a pair of 20-minute tracks that tick several boxes in terms of evocative scents and aural indulgence. While I almost had no doubts with Kyle Bobby Gunn, given that the man has made some pretty brilliant music in the past, my inexistent conversancy with the work of Wayne Robert Thomas had me fearing a trademark so-so release: one side good, the other a mere filler.
On the contrary, both pieces are sufficiently significant; forced to pick a “winner”, I’d say that Thomas’s “Voyevoda” prevails of a very slight margin on Dunn’s “The Searchers”. The latter is gracefully repetitive, gradually increasing massiveness and momentum by superimposing the same circle of non-thoughts over and over. Thomas is also into mind-numbing reiteration, but his track features a leaden-footed harmonic progression to add dimensions to the palette, thus enhancing the pseudo-stillness/entrancement ratio.
Either way, this is an excellent means to fill the room with foams of reverberating jangle and trails of melancholic dissolution. Kudos to Dunn and Thomas for not having recurred to tricks, preferring instead to focus on a single intention rendered explicit with tactful consciousness.
MASSIMO RICCI. TOUCHING EXTREMES. 