120121 by Kevin Drumm

A series of solemnly transcendent long form works by the ever prolific Kevin Drumm, ranging from pieces dedicated to Peter Rehberg & Joe Camarillo, to remedial drones and sublime harmonic balms, all produced between a time period of 12 months.


PRESS:

Ineffably stunning long-form drift/drone works from Kevin Drumm, created over a year-long period and existing in the same frozen realm as his classic "Imperial Distortion" / "Imperial Horizon" sides. Highly immersive work recommended if you’ve enjoyed material by Stephan Mathieu, Eliane Radigue, Phill Niblock, Andrew Chalk.

Drumm is a prolific musician, no doubt, but that shouldn't give you any reason to miss one of his finest - and most moving - releases in years. "120121" hits a somber note, memorialising Drumm's friends Peter Rehberg and Joe Camarillo, the Chicago drummer who died in January last year. But as much as it hovers around a pensive mood, there's no shortage of hope coursing through the album's six extended compositions. The sound shimmers and sways as if piped down from the heavens, striking a chord that links liturgical music with the stretched, minimalist experimentations of Eliane Radigue or Drumm's occasional collaborator Phill Niblock.

'Far Off From Difference’ starts things off with a cluster of sustained tones that throb and drift barely perceptibly. Listen closely, however, and you’ll find a world of microtonal, almost orchestral flourishes in miniature, reminding us of Stephan Mathieu's angelic "Radioland”.

'MayorOfPosen' is the album's lengthy centrepiece, using a 20-minute runtime to expand on a single, sustained organ note, bobbing listlessly in an ocean of harmonics and blurred textures. 'Grey Screen' is almost as generous, but sidesteps sacred sounds in favour of more minimal oscillations that suggest harmony through unsettling dissonance. The most unexpected track is 'C', taking a saturated tape drone and extending it over 10 minutes, lifting it towards the sky.

In a landscape that's filled with nameless drone and ambient recordings more concerned with replication than exploration, it's nourishing to hear an artist like Drumm digging thru the recesses to keep up a level of quality that's genuinely startling to witness this many years into his career.

-Boomkat

Vaagner/Vaknar
Est. 2018

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