The artwork for the latest collaboration between Aria Rostami and Daniel Blomquist is lovely, but has a kind of impenetrability that filters through to the sounds within. It is as if these undiscovered runic symbols had a diffuse and languorous soundtrack that had been beamed in from some hitherto uncharted land. Time Apart In The West is broken down into fourteen months, and that sense of time passing on a long journey is captured well on this series of gently pulsating, kaleidoscopic vignettes.
A distant drone, the sounds of activity as if passed through a series of filters moving things further away; everything feels slightly out of focus, pulsing and crackling. There is a vibrant warmth as felt form a distance, with sounds muffled and distorted but still welcoming. A gentle early morning euphoria covers some of the pieces; the kind of feeling you have when your heart flutters lightly at the thought of a new day.
There are Angelo Badalamenti type drifts here and there, as mildly classical synth sweeps link hands with more elemental incursions. The subtle trickle of sounds has an emotional depth, but moves in such a way that you are prevented from fully focussing on them, weaving just out of reach, but still urging you to follow. It feels like watching sunlight flickering on the ripples of a lake, and staying with them until they finally vanish in that imperceptible way that ripples do as their strength diminishes. The pieces are all wispy, half-remembered, seen out of the corner of the eye, but at unexpected moments are briefly eaten by glitchy catches and brief forgotten piano notes. Swollen synths whirl and wander; space echo and distorted laughter break through the reverie, touching in with humanity even though it sounds hollow and sad. They feel as if they were created from unknown substances, ones that appear familiar, but are subtly different to what we recognise. There are lost vocal transmissions, dusty and distressed, that appear trapped in the aether and then are swallowed up in dreaming drifts.These little sketches all hold their own appeal, some are short and barely present, but all have that gossamer lightness, able to dissipate in front of you. Towards the end, cassette voices and taped activity seems out of keeping after the apparent distance that has come before; but the unfamiliarity soon returns and before we have a chance to engage, the album has drawn to a close.
Time Apart In The West is a real feat of imagination and the perfect combination of the two players. It really holds your attention, although somehow diverting you at the same time. Seriously worth investigating.-Mr Olivetti-
