In terms of concept and putting that concept into music: 100% bravo mate. In terms of me enjoying the music? 60% can do better mate! The first three stages are the most enjoyable imo given their Dixieland roots - even the third one, with its more dark ambient influences, has got enough samples to be more than dark echoes. Stages 4 fully focus on drony, noisy dark ambient. There still are some oldies ideas, but they are so buried within the textures that the tracks feel disjointed. Diving further into bruitist territories, Stage 5 is supposed to represent a near-permanent state of confusion and horror. It does represent that well, all ballroom excerpts being limited to faint memories blurred by overlapping plaques of noisy textures. Conceptually, I guess it does represent the progression of Alzheimer, but nothing justifies this one being almost 90 minutes long. Stage 6? Mostly empty, except for the last 6 minutes, where distant ballroom music makes its apparition, as the patient slowly remembers something, a final time, before dying. It's fitting with the underlying concept, sure; but it doesn't change the fact that these recordings are more interesting for how they can translate the process bear by the patient than for their musical qualities.
1 Bumps | Bump |
