A Slow Rip – For The Time Being

A Slow Rip – For The Time Being
Endgame

For The Time Being is a double CD compilation of ambience, taken from material originally released between 2004 and 2007 by A Slow Rip on 7 CDR albums. The Wollongong based trio take the name from the initials of their first names: Rob Laurie (guitar, percussion, vocals and wind instruments), Ian Miles (analogue synths, guitar and  bass), and Phil Turnbull (virtual analogue synth). A pretty impressive list of instruments. A Slow Rip are definitely not laptop artists, which is fine by me; personally, I’ve always thought they were more suited for spreadsheets than music.

A Slow Rip improvise and record straight to tape. This approach leads to a warm organic soundscape of buzzing synths, long drones and prepared guitar. The first CD is predominantly composed of more drone based music, whereas the second CD is more experimental but still very  warm and effortless. The percussion really comes to the fore, in a very spacious and relaxed way. A Slow RIP are slow. Nothing happens that quickly. Their sound has the feeling of time stood still. All in all very nice stuff. They’ve clearly got a lot more material, so hopefully we’ll get to hear more of it soon.

-Alaric-