OUT ON: 22-09-10
TAIGA II
Flora Chor
Conspiracy
CORE093
The arc of Bryant Clifford Meyer’s musical trajectory is characterized
by a penchant for sonic meditations. Over the years, this hypnotic
tendency found a footing in the protracted low-end rumble of The
Gersch, the monolithic crescendos of post-metal legends ISIS, and the
call-to-arms scores of Red Sparowes. But nowhere is this predilection
towards the pensive and the brooding more apparent than in Meyer’s
recent solo efforts.
Under the moniker of Taiga, the
multi-instrumentalist sheds the guitar-laden thunder of his
collaborative work in favor of reserved melodies and exploratory
studies in texture and dynamics.
If Meyer’s past endeavors harbored a malevolent edge, employing their
restraint and protracted dimensions to heighten their roaring
climaxes, his latest offering, Flora Chor, serves as a salve to the
volatile work of his musical alter ego. Employing subtle modulations
and nuanced layers, Taiga summons soothing ebb-and-flow soundscapes
built on alleviation rather than tension. Taking cues from early
ambient artists, Meyer patiently constructs lush tapestries of sound
out of a few sparse elements. The warm and enveloping result is
psychoacoustical candy--tones sweep across the panorama, notes bud and
blossom from the ether, and arpeggiated melodies bubble over pulsing
sine waves. But unlike so many of his peers, Meyers paints his
pictures from a broad and varied pallet. The breadth of his scope is
seen in the fragmented piano melody of “Dafodil”, the 8-bit gurgle of
“Plumeria”, the Eastern back-alley flea market kaleidoscope of
“Zennia”, and the shimmering synthesized scales of “Manzanita”. Flora
Chor weaves a narcotic drone, but never plunges into a tonal k-hole.
Taiga offers classical music for the experimental set. Or perhaps it’s
post-rock for minimalists, or new age for nihilists. However you
classify it, Flora Chor is a heady tour of texture and tone.
With his
latest album, Bryant Clifford Meyer establishes his place in the
lineage of such revered reductionists like Arvo Part, Popol Vuh, and
Thomas Koner.
Dark green/transparent mixed vinyl is limited to 75 copies, dark blue/transparent mixed vinyl is limited to 100 copies and black vinyl is limited to 325 copies.
