The Green Kingdom – Incidental Music
Tench – TCH03: Time: 39:58
Record Label Website: http://www.tenchrec.com/
Whether in a conscious state of reverie or in the pre-waking hours when fleeting visions come forth into the camera obscura of the mind, there are moments where hanging onto the edges of dreams is perhaps more desirable than even slumber. And after the dreams end, in the glistening haze of the morning, The Green Kingdom’s latest album, appropriately titled Incidental Music, is the soundtrack for this quietude.
My first experience with Michael Cottone’s work was on the Home Assembly’s #HAM004 album from 2010 entitled Prismatic, and his more recent album Egress on Nomadic Kids Republic #011. Incidental Music holds time in suspension with subtle rhythms, and gentle yet tangible instrumentation (crystalline guitars, keyboards, kalimba and minimal processing) that encourage a calm wandering state of mind. Although different and original in his approach, there are some similarities in feeling and sound in Cottone’s work to Dictaphone’s recent album Poems From A Rooftop (Sonic Pieces) and The Boats album Ballads Of The Research Department (12k), two albums that I like very much. It is evident that great care was taken in the recording of this album, and it has been beautifully mastered by Tench’s M. Ostermeier.
Three Friends Of Winter is the placid introduction, a point of awareness without a concrete reality. Backyard Epiphany is serene in its sense of movement and passage of time. Over Treetops is the beginning of a gentle awakening. There are Satie-esque moments of allure as in Cherry Theme and Green Theme, even after a chimed nudge opening in Cherry Theme. Slow Bloom and Floatation Themes blur the sense of time. rshda is the most ethereal track on the album; the moment before stirring, where reality is beyond reach. The album closes with a gentle awakening in Whispered Through Pines.
There seemed to be a place-holder for album #TCH03 at Tench Records for some time. Now the mystery is solved, and the void filled with these delightfully tranquil scenes and halcyon musings from The Green Kingdom.
More on this release: http://www.tenchrec.com/TCH03.html
Artist’s website: http://thegreenkingdom.wordpress.com/
Track listing
- Three Friends Of Winter
- Backyard Epiphany
- Over Treetops
- Cherry Theme
- Slow Bloom
- Green Theme
- Floatation Themes
- rshda
- Whispered Through Pines
I’m sure that would capture-enrapture me more over my system in my listening room rather than over my computer speakers at my desk, but for how long I wonder.