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Quark space –
Spacefolds 8 |
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Band/artist: Quark space
Title: Spacefolds 8
Released: 2007
Label: Eternity's Jest Records
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Track
listing:
1. My Starship Has Mudflaps
2. Bridget in Space with a Ham Sandwich
3. Shifting Dervish
4. Far Gathering 1
5. Far Gathering 2
6. Obscured by Perch
7. Flight of the Architect |
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The Players
Paul Williams, Chet Santia, Jay Swanson,
Darren Gough |
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 With
a history going back to 1984, Ohio, USA based ensemble Quarkspace have
to be seen as a veteran act, although they didn't release an album until
1996. From that year and until now a steady flow of music has been made
by this group, divided into two very different kinds of releases - one
kind being studio recorded regular albums, while the other kind are
studio jams with instrumental all improvisational music. "Spacefolds 8"
is the latest album by the band of the latter kind, and was released in
2007, initially as a digital download only.
We're not talking about jams and improvisational playing here in the
jamband category here though; both Deadheads as well as fans of artists
belonging the modern jamband category may shy away from this stuff.
Because Quarkspace is all about space rock; and in this case mostly long
improvisations in a style highly psychedelic in sound. The individual
jams doesn't really have much movement, although evolving kind of neat
the jams here are most times at a standstill, with one instrument that
starts to improvise as the other fades away - but always staying put
where they are in the jam.
Nuances are found everywhere within each separate jam though, often in
the case of disharmonies building up while the band search for a
direction to head to and when they see something the disharmonies will
fade away. The songs rarely move in the direction though, as mentioned,
on this album it is really more about musical explorations from a
distance.
This results in some rather unique soundscapes, especially in the first
two tracks where the piano is central and spice up the tunes with
segments influenced by blues, jazz and classical music. In the other
songs synth layers and space sounds replace the piano in the soundscape.
Common for all tunes is the guitar, sometimes melodic and floating while
at other times serving heavily distorted sounds; always with a melody
more or less easily identified. Drums are used a bit too, but the bass
guitar often takes up the role of the drums in keeping time and rhythm,
as well as being the stable core of most improvisations. The bass guitar
more often than not set up a foundation in these tunes, a main melody
the other players can use as orientation and guidance when they explore
for next direction.
All in all this isn't really a good release though. Fans of the genre
and fans of this band in particular will most probably enjoy this
release; the music is spaced out and trippy and should go down well with
anyone fond of spaced out psychedelic soundscapes. People more into
melodies and songs with a strong development, evolvement and movement
might not find this one to be quite to their taste though; and for
people unfamiliar with the genre this release will probably not be the
best place to start.
Rating: 5,5 (out of 10)
Reviewer: Olav Björnsen
Visit the Artist’s
Website
Discography
Spacefolds 8 (2007)
Node in Peril (2004)
Spacefolds 7 (2001)
Spacefolds 6 (2000)
The Hidden Moon (1999)
Spacefolds 5 (1999)
Spacefolds 4 (1998)
Live Orion (1998)
Spacefolds 3 (1997)
Spacefolds 2 (1997)
Spacefolds 1 (1996)
Quarkspace (1996) |
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