steering clear of the mainstream
since 2001

june 2010

review
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info opinion

Peter Wright

"An Angel Fell Where the Kestrels Hover" CD

Spekk

Genre: drone, ambient

West Melton, New Zealand

December 2009

An Angel Fell Where the Kestrels Hover was designed by Peter Wright as a response to the seasonal cycle - part of the same inspiration as his Snow Blind, which explored his emotional reactions to a London winter. Allegedly, this album eschews its predecessor's doom and gloom in favour of a more resplendent outlook, something evident as early on as the first track, which meshes a glimmering electronic tone with a balmy guitar strum. Still, Wright's medium is drone, and as a result, much of this album moves at a glacial pace. "London is Drowning ..." makes that sentiment clear, as it gradually flows onwards, suffusing a deep, regal ambiance with impossibly echoing wind-chimes of electric guitar. It is at once haunting and enrapturing - a sensitive ode to wistful Spring nights. Its ominous darkness might also bear the imprint of what Wright describes as one of London's "wettest Julys on record," something which explains the record's many morose moments.

Perhaps An Angel Fell's most literal summer relic is the magnificent "Lavender Buzz," whose foreground is a field recording obtained via a microphone placed in the middle of a flowerbed, populated largely by the buzzing of bees gathering nectar. It's an indisputable artefact of summer, yet Wright's minimal guitar accompaniment, along with the almost hazardous sounds of insects abuzz, makes for a sense of longing foreign to more typical dog-day efforts. This latent sadness pervades much of the album as a whole, concluding with the almost cacophonous guitar-drone of "Kestrels," which merges sorrow with a unique, indefinable hopefulness amid tidal guitar flows. It's a suitable end to a powerful, emotionally conflicted album.

peter wright's myspace

"River Lea Time Lapse":

Michael Tau

[Vitals: 7 tracks, distributed by the label, released November 2009]