Steve Moore

The Henge

Written by: PP on 18/02/2008 17:01:17

The race for the strangest album yet to land on my review desk isn\'t over yet, but Steve Moore and his solo debut \"The Henge\" is currently topping the ranking. Stupid metaphors aside, \"The Henge\" is quite a mouthful of a record. Boasting of only four songs and a 6 minute \"Introduction\", the 43 minute album takes its listener on a journey through time, space and multiple dimensions.

Almost minimalistic in its initial outlook, the all-instrumental record consists almost entirely of looping keyboard, droning drums and everlasting progression. The way Mr Moore takes the listener through different moods and infinite amount of soundscapes in a short time is nothing short of impressive. \"Introduction\" already foreshadows something odd to come with its foreboding organ-like instruments dragging on slowly on the background, but I don\'t think anyone is quite prepared for \"Infinite Resignation\". its high toned keyboard/synths loop endlessly through the seven minutes, featuring only minuscule tone and scale vibrations on a few parts of the song. These are contrasted by strange, psychedelic effects and echoing drums that ooze an infinitely large sound scape by their nature, and it certainly sounds a lot like what you\'d expect floating in outer space to feel like if it were possible for sound to exist there. The track progresses slowly into louder and louder, introducing more technical keyboard towards the end of the track, before leading the listener straight into the frightening organ-explosion of the album\'s centerpiece \"The Henge/Ascension\", which is an 11 minute long track giving new meaning to the word experimentalist. Its suspenseful mood is much more sinister than the relaxed mood on \"Infinite Resignation\", and could easily be on a soundtrack to an epic horror movie from the late 90s. Still largely minimalistic in its nature, the song focuses on creating a massive ambiance that surrounds its listener and forces him/her into a frightened state of mind. Occasional strums of disturbingly down-tuned guitar and bass are thrown around to fortify the sinister sound. This is in stark contrast to \"Dead Tide\", which is a gentle, nearly acoustic, piano-based song - dare I call it a ballad? - that makes one think of standing at the rocks against a massive ocean around a time when a storm is just picking up.

Finally, the album ends in an up-tempo, more joyous \"Cepheid\", which brings back the sprawling keyboard of \"Infinite Resignation\", only in an even more high-toned and complex environment. This song is like straight out of an alien space ship just landed on earth, I swear. This is also why \"The Henge\" has such a positive vibe to it; it\'s simply so different, and so out of this world compared to any other release you\'ll have heard that isn\'t possible to not like it. On one level or another, \"The Henge\" is your perfect late-night drunken musical adventure, one where you\'ll sit back, close your eyes and let Steve Moore lead you through a futuristic musical journey equivalent to the complexity of a quantum physics lecture - and I mean this in a good way.

7

Download: Cepheid
For the fans of: Zombi, Dreams In Exile
Listen: Myspace
Buy: iTunes

Release date 05.11.2007
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Provided by Target ApS

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