During the late Eighties/early Nineties, Gordon Derry released a few cassette tapes that explored the genre that would later evolve into trance electronics. His music was--and still is--ethereal and engaging.
GORDON DERRY: Sound Sculptures (CDR on Runestone Music)
This release from 2004 features 40 minutes of trance electronics, digitally remastered from his earlier cassettes.
Delicate tonalities conspire with sustained keyboards to achieve a darkling temperament that hides a sparkling cheerfulness. Chords are elongated, then tinkered with to produce wavering atmospherics. Drones become swollen with distinction, shimmering with sonic expressions that evoke ceremonies held deep in abandoned forest circles. Harmonics are bent and contorted into mobius loops. The audience's disposition is held hostage by these melodies, while emotions and moods adopt psychic camaraderie with the drifting soundscapes.
Hidden in the mix of analog and digital electronics are guitar and hand drums, which provide a subliminal earthiness to the overall astral nature of this music. One track features more pronounced e-perc.
Electronic plummets take on a hissing presence, drawing the listener into spiraling descents and sudden ascensions. Spooky attitudes caress the ears as haunted synthis croon and gurgle. Infinity is fractalized and reconstructed as fascinating artifacts of sound.Textures coalesce like gathering thunderheads, herding moods of cryptic design into tunes that inject a sense of liveliness to tranquil soundscapes. This music abounds with appealing melodics, setting it apart from most "ambient" compositions.
Winsome riffs emerge to bewitch the forebrain, while gothic vapors cocoon the audience, removing all proximity with the real world and casting everyone adrift in a realm of favorable calm.
Interested parties might want to check out Derry's other creative efforts on his website. He sculpts and carves shed antlers and found wood into delightful objects that bear intentional resemblance to arcane deities and spirits of light and dark origins.
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