The past winter here was not very cold; it didn’t feel like ‘Winter’ at all. Australian composer Lawrence English must have foreseen this when he recorded the music for this album “For Varying degrees of Winter”, full of beautiful haunting electro acoustic music.
The music, electronic as it may be, feels very ‘organic’, and evokes ‘varying degrees’ of moods. Or, in the words of the label Baskaru that released it: “Each one of the six pieces is a monochrome composition ranging from the blinding whites of the snow to the blue-grays of cloudy days”.
It’s not just ‘quiet dronemusic’ though. Some of the tones in Fleck for instance, may strike those with a good hearing as almost (subliminally) agressive. These very high tones strike you directly inside your head (some of Ryoji Ikeda’s work has the same effect).
By now, spring has arrived and the mood of this album may be a bit too dark and winterish for the coming season. But it’s nót cold – like the winter that passed.
But even then – another winter will come next year!