Despite an initial attempt at scepticism, I have become a fully paid up member of the Abul Mogard fan club over the years. Still, I confess that I did briefly try to resist the charms of this record. Did I really (I asked myself) need another album of big vworgy buzzy analogue synth based ambient music in my life? Reader, I failed in this attempt at parsimony. I don’t know the exact moment I fell, but I suspect it might have been near the start of In A Studded Procession, the third of the five pieces, whose stately melody and rich warmth just blew me away. (Incidentally, I got slight hints of Eduard Artemyev reworking Bach on the soundtrack to Tarkovsky’s Solaris here, which is obviously a big plus for me.) This LP is among his more conventionally tuneful work, I think, albeit at a glacial pace. There’s something magical about the way the progressions seem to resolve and un-resolve simultaneously, winding around each other, and his control of timbre and volume and evolution are imperious. I don’t know whether I need need this in my life, but I do know that my life is that bit better for having it.
(Incidentally, I see that the last time I blogged a Mogard, I wrote that the ‘retired Serbian factory worker’ story had been thoroughly debunked. Let it here be noted that he is actually an Italian musician and sound designer who rejoices in the name of Guido Zen.)
I bought this from the artist’s bandcamp page.
dogrando writes about some records 