Charmed Birds Against Sorcery" is the third studio album by New Englan
d-based musician Erik Carlson, and constitutes a startling development in his sound. The first Area C record, 2006's "Traffics + Discoveries," was a small marvel of whirring loops sourced primarily from processed guitars. Last year's "Haunt," Carlson's second record for Last Visible Dog, was a different affair entirely, investigating the provocative drone capabilites of farfisa organs. The compositions which constitute "Charmed Birds..." develop and, often, transcend the motifs found on these prior albums, with Carlson revealing an astonishingly refined and singular approach to guitar-based composition. Soundwise, the album recalls more the crystalline, kaleidoscopic webworks of the first Area C record than the ragged organ workouts of "Haunt." Glacial harmonics drift in and out of each channel, skittering, modulated notes pulse and surge, sputtering suddenly to luminescent manifestation before disappearing just as quickly. Many of the compositions here are in fact more remniscient of the ambient side of Wolfgang Voigt's work in Gas, or perhaps the less beat driven aspects of "94 Diskont"-era Oval than what we've come to expect from what is ostensibly a 'guitar and electronics' based project. An almost kraut-like rhythm subtends the topography of "Composition Journal," the album's stunning opener, its low throb punctuated by brittle shocks from deconstructed drum machines over which Carlson weaves a spiralling lattice of bowed and picked notes. Later, on "Sleeping Birds," we're presented with a lulling idyll concocted by way of flute-like tones and languid note clusters, a shorter piece which dissolves seemlessly into modulating static at the onset of the pointillist microcosm that is "Spell of Resistance." The title track is without question the album's apex and constitutes a formal peak in Carlson's discography, as brilliant, bright guitar lines tread effortlessly in a sea of tranquil pulses and disembodied percussive elements.
d-based musician Erik Carlson, and constitutes a startling development in his sound. The first Area C record, 2006's "Traffics + Discoveries," was a small marvel of whirring loops sourced primarily from processed guitars. Last year's "Haunt," Carlson's second record for Last Visible Dog, was a different affair entirely, investigating the provocative drone capabilites of farfisa organs. The compositions which constitute "Charmed Birds..." develop and, often, transcend the motifs found on these prior albums, with Carlson revealing an astonishingly refined and singular approach to guitar-based composition. Soundwise, the album recalls more the crystalline, kaleidoscopic webworks of the first Area C record than the ragged organ workouts of "Haunt." Glacial harmonics drift in and out of each channel, skittering, modulated notes pulse and surge, sputtering suddenly to luminescent manifestation before disappearing just as quickly. Many of the compositions here are in fact more remniscient of the ambient side of Wolfgang Voigt's work in Gas, or perhaps the less beat driven aspects of "94 Diskont"-era Oval than what we've come to expect from what is ostensibly a 'guitar and electronics' based project. An almost kraut-like rhythm subtends the topography of "Composition Journal," the album's stunning opener, its low throb punctuated by brittle shocks from deconstructed drum machines over which Carlson weaves a spiralling lattice of bowed and picked notes. Later, on "Sleeping Birds," we're presented with a lulling idyll concocted by way of flute-like tones and languid note clusters, a shorter piece which dissolves seemlessly into modulating static at the onset of the pointillist microcosm that is "Spell of Resistance." The title track is without question the album's apex and constitutes a formal peak in Carlson's discography, as brilliant, bright guitar lines tread effortlessly in a sea of tranquil pulses and disembodied percussive elements.Area C - Charmed Birds Against Sorcery
Label: Students of Decay
Catalog#: SOD-18
Country: USA
Released: February, 2009
Genre: Leftfield
Style: Electro-acoustic
Tracklist:
1. Composition Journal
2. Of Set Purpose, No Arrangement
3. Fact, Fancy, Legend
4. Sleeping Birds
5. Spell of Resistance
6. Meeting Mid-Air
7. Charmed Birds Against Sorcery
8. Black-Thorn, Falcon, Picris
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