The Stars Ovation

Here In The Stillness, Despite Everything

Written by: DR on 23/12/2010 19:18:29

"Here In The Stillness, Despite Everything" one man is alone in a room. It is in the stillness of a small, poorly lit room in Minneapolis that he can hear everything going on around him, and from everything going on around him he draws inspiration, which he uses to create his first album under the moniker of The Stars Ovation.

That is pretty much how "Here..." was created. Based on the music, he (I can't find his name anywhere) didn't have much in that room other than a piano and a keyboard, which are the full-extent of "Here...". Yep, it's an instrumental album, one that strives for ambience, hopefully keeping the listener moderately interested enough to keep them listening for the whole thing, and, at a stretch, perhaps even engaged enough to be able to apply their own meanings to the songs.

This album runs for just over thirty minutes; thirty minutes of minimalistic piano-playing is a lot to swallow for anyone, but if the creative ambition matches the execution, it can make for a truly rewarding listen. "Here..." isn't a very rewarding listen, sorry to be so blunt about it, but it isn't. There's a stark lack of ambition, and his piano-playing skills are adequate at best, he's going for the minimalistic thing, sure, I get it, but what he offers won't be enough to hold your attention. All there is underneath, aka where the texturally-rich layers should be, it is poorly-judged droning ambience - on almost every track - you begin to wonder where this is actually going. Aforementioned droning ambience doesn't actually offer anything, it never leads anywhere or pushes the borders of soundscapes, it's far too safe, and as a result, you can't help but assume that it was added naively and 'for the sake of it'.

Music of this ilk relies so heavily on the subtleties in how the songs are constructed, of which this album has none, so you can safely assume that after a few listens if this hasn't grabbed you it probably never will. It's hard to fault the production, but there needs to be a lot more ambition in the future.

Download: all of it for free if you like
For The Fans of: Carly Commando, Balmorhea
Listen: Myspace

Release Date 13.07.2010
Rack And Ruin

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