Crommie, Daniel: The Last Thing I Remember

Oregon's flautist/electronica magician Daniel Crommie has created an extraordinarily beautiful work based on the simple idea of trying to describe the phases of sleep and a selection of dream states. The principal approach is to layer swirling synth and keyboard textures underneath electronic loops and free wheeling flute parts. At times the arrangements remind me of some of Camel's more dreamy compositions like "Lunar Sea".

The album itself is made up of 18 short pieces arrayed into 4 different sleep patterns bounded by the 'Alpha Rhythms' of "Even Song" and "Dawn Song". Within these 4 parts Daniel employs an enterprising catalogue of hypnotic repetition and mysterious meanderings by a variety of flutes and whistles from a home made bamboo affair to a modern concert quality instrument.

The bamboo whistle-flute, broadly following a whole tone scale according to Daniel, in fact makes its first appearance on the second track. In the following song a clay ocarina is used to create an eerie ethereal mood with damped clanging bells in the background. In track 4 you could swear there is a 'tron in there at the beginning but the piece quickly picks up the pace with electronic loops and a warbling flute creating a feeling of flying (my favourite dream apart from scoring for Wigan).

Other highlights are the insistent rhythm of "Rare as a Devil-Winged Ice Monkey" (about as upbeat as it gets), the playful Jaw's harp of "The Slumberer's Procession" and the startling 3-dimensional percussion effect which jolts you out of your reverie in "Doppler Drum". The "REM" suite as a whole has less rhythmic dominance, with the focus on more mysterious effects. The exception is the last piece of the group which perhaps announces the upward surge toward wakefulness and the closing "Dawn Song".

A clever and supremely well executed album.

Track listing
a) Alpha - Even Song
b) Theta Waves
1) Rhythmystyque
2) Walking through parallel worlds
3) Vertigo Avenue
c) Sleep Spindles
1) Glisten
2) Squid ink
3) Song of the sea turtle
4) K complexes
5) Sea-bot
d) Delta Waves
1) Luna
2) Rare as a devil winged ice monkey
3) Sky-bot
e) REM
1) Delta wave outro
2) The slumberer's procession
3) Doppler Drum
4) Sedna
5) The zenith curse
f) Alpha - Dawn Song

Added: June 18th 2007
Reviewer: Richard Barnes
Score:
Related Link: New Weave Records
Hits: 3261
Language: english

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