Of Mary's Blood

[Traeth]

You might find the audio excerpts from ‘Of Mary’s Blood’ on www.red-wharf.com an interesting diversion. It’s the first piece in a trilogy of work by Graham Bowers.

Eskhatos magazine (USA).
Bowers manages to create a profound achievement with “Of Mary’s Blood” which heralds, not only times to come, but all of the sensations and violent chaos of the way time “quickens” as we rush madly toward the inevitable. “Of Mary’s Blood” is the first in a musical trilogy revolving around man’s life in the latter part of the 20th century. The title of the album refers to the Virgin Mother of the Christ and in so doing, implies birth through blood, salvation through suffering, and life through loathsome and blackened death. Bold, monumental and genuinely fraught with dark inertia and terrifyingly abstract and merciless creativity, Bowers controls and contorts his medium while using the listener’s own insecurities as instruments in this epic oeuvre. There are staggering moments of silence on this one vast and monstrous Boschian track which is punctuated by darling echoes of piano playing in some lost hallway and uneasy voices shuffling in the foyer. The music suggests, as does the inside cover, an unrelenting and catastrophic descent of what was, what is, and what will always be. Part two, “Transgression”, and the final part “Eternal Ghosts” will be eagerly awaited. Blessed are they who inherit the earth.
Ares Solis

EB magazine (Germany)
A piece like a radical work of modern literature, Bowers is connecting avant-garde, new music, ambient, synthesizers and conventional instruments to an impressive montage of acoustic snapshots. “What ever is born or created at this moment in time has the qualities of this moment in time” says Jung who is quoted by Bowers. However Bowers views past, present and future as elements of one “direction”, directly connected and acting upon each other in a sort of continuum, being accompanied by further elements of physical, spiritual and psychological “quantities” as components which are constantly exchanging. In this work, this philosophical background finds its expression on a mere musical level. The elements, which in the beginning are apparently in a random order, grow stronger in the course of the composition, while drawing wider circles at the same time. Disturbing, everyday noises like sirens, the hammering of machines, ticking clocks, trains and lorries, weird sounds from the filed of repressed memories more and more are being transformed into a fascinatingly structured global harmony which builds an inner balance between dark noise worlds and ‘ambient’ floating sounds without becoming smoother or more one dimensional but as a consequence of a cleverly arranged change of the habits of listening.
Yvonne Brogi.