Leonard's Lair reviews Matt Bartram's "The Dreaming Invisible......."

Once of Air Formation and The Static Silence, Bartram has offered more than a decade of good service to the shoegaze genre. For his latest album though, he has applied certain constraints. Firstly, there would be no vocals or drums and only one guitar would be used plus – in his words – “whatever effects I felt necessary”. Clearly, he felt effects were absolutely essential as ‘The Dreaming Invisible…….’ is absolutely covered in them.

‘Absent’ gets events underway with lush drones to the fore. The melody and pace changes little so the variations in key change offered by the relatively brief ‘Alight’ are welcome. ‘Cadence’ conjures up deep walls of gut-level despair which do battle with a hypnotic jangly loop. Meanwhile, a heady euphoria is reached on ‘Healing’ before the multi-layered tapestry finds a new focus (and even more layers) for the closing ‘Illuminate’; the effects seemingly giving voice to shards of ice for a full thirteen minutes.

This will be the definition of hell for the shoegaze haters buit for those who enjoy glacially shifting guitar effects accompanied by gradual mood changes, ‘The Dreaming Invisible…….’ delivers time and again. After all, without those effects, this wouldn’t be a Bartram album would it?

Further Listening:
Air Formation, Hammock, The Static Silence, Flying Saucer Attack

Igloomag.com chats with Clem Leek and reviews "Lifenotes"

"Lifenotes is a nice mixture of complex atmospheres and stripped back pieces. It has a long track list (sixteen), but they are all short tracks, easily digested."

Clem Leek is a composer who has quietly been working away for some time now. He is very often described as neo-classical, which is a pretty loose term for modern music that is based on traditional classical constructs. Although it certainly draws influence from that genre, I would say it is a bit more soundscape oriented. Ambient washes of drones and electronica popping and fizzing while simple melodic motifs are used, often repetitively to add colour and definition to the pieces. Based in Bath, UK, I first came across Clem at a small gig in an underground venue in said town, and was pretty impressed. Not what I was expecting given the venue, it being more suited to a grimey punk band or or something, but the atmospheric and emotive music of his performance was engaging and interesting, if merely for its juxtaposition of content and context.

Since then, Clem has released several works, all steadily developing his style as a composer. This latest offering is another step on his journey. Lifenotes is a nice mixture of complex atmospheres and stripped back pieces. It has a long track list (sixteen), but they are all short tracks, easily digested. Centred on the piano, but also using many other real instruments such as violin and guitar, the album is very much played rather then produced for the main part.

The recording is pretty low tech it has to be said. I once read an article which argued that the recording process was as much a part of the finished product as the performance it captures, and the buzzing and clicking captured during that process is just important to the music as anything else, and should be celebrated as such. Well, you can certainly hear the recording process in all its glory on this album, which could be considered a celebration of the art, or could be seen as unnecessary hiss depending on where you stand on the argument. Either way, it’s a minor gripe, if that’s even what it is.

I managed to ask Clem a few questions about the album:

Gustave Savy / Igloo :: When and how did you first get in to music?

Clem Leek :: I have always had a passion for music for as long as I can remember. My parents exposed me to music at a young age and encouraged me with music lessons. I have been very lucky that I have been able to really explore music at each stage of my life.

Igloo :: What prompted you to start composing?

CL :: Well, as most musicians do, I used to write small melodies and improvise a bit, but it wasn’t until GCSE and the discovery of Sibelius (software not composer) that really got me thinking about the process and structure. Since then I have been exploring lots of genres, areas of notation and instrumentation. It is my favourite part of music, expression through composition is a huge part of my musical life.

Igloo :: What are you listening to at the moment? Not what influences you, but what do you actually get down to?

Clem Leek

CL :: Well I am listening to a tonne of stuff at the moment. I’m loving the new Com Truise album, along with Nils Frahm’s new CD and i’ve been getting down to 65daysofstatic as well.

Igloo :: Your album Lifenotes has pretty melancholy vibe in places, is that intentional, or did it just turn out like that?

CL :: I think a lot of my work, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally is melancholic. The context in which some of the songs were written definitely lead to that.

Igloo :: How was this recorded? At home or in a studio?

CL :: Some of it was recorded at home, some recorded out and about with my little travelling studio. It’s nice to be able to record something In the spur of the moment, little moments like that can really add to a piece. All the mastering was done in a studio though.

Igloo :: Did you have a definite concept for this release, or is it a coincidentally harmonious collection of disparate pieces?

CL :: The album is a collection of pieces written over the last two years, so really in its element it can’t help but be a disparate album. Although I like to think that adds something rather than detracts. Each piece really is a Lifenote and I really wanted them to be seen that way.

Igloo :: What’s your live set up? Is this stuff in your live repertoire and is playing live something you spend a lot of time working on? Translating recorded material to a performance context can be a technical conjuring trick.

CL :: Preparing live material is always a challenge. Most of the pieces from Lifenotes I will perform live. Some, just being piano pieces, remain like that for live performances. I like to adapt other pieces so that they are recognisable yet I re-imagine them for a live situation. My setup always changes. Sometimes I love to keep it simple and just use piano and other times I’ll have laptop, piano, guitar, violin and other instruments. It depends on the piece as to how long I spend on preparation, I always like to keep an element of improvisation in my sets, meaning I can work with timbre and structure. Using Ableton live allows me to be flexible live, it is a great platform to work from.

Lifenotes is the latest album from the multi-talented composer Clem Leek. It is available now on Drifting Falling.

original article

Pop Matters offers up 2 cents on Damian Valles' 'Skeleton Taxa'

Valles has been jumping from one genre to another––math rock, post-rock, ambient, punk––for more than a decade now. The Canadian musician has landed on something that feels like ambient, but which he says is more concerned with structured tunes and melodies—song stuff—than his past solo stuff. How is it? At times reminiscent of the dark, spooky stuff put together by Norway’s Ulver, albeit without the overwhelmingly depressive edge, the record’s perfect in its ambient ambitions, and pretty good otherwise. “Bell and Arc”, which features vocals from Valles’ wife Heidi Hazelton, is inarguably the best here and makes you wish there were one or two more like it.

original review

Exclaim.ca weighs in on Clem Leek's "Lifenotes"

Compared to Max Richter, Dustin O'Halloran and others in the current school of neo-classical composition, Clem Leek is as much a miniaturist as a minimalist. The pieces on the UK artist's second full-length have the fragmentary character of in-process sketches or thoughts. Piano chords are played tentatively, with pregnant intervals allowing for full breaths, or briefly flourish amidst rain and birdsongs before fading away ghost-like. The guitar pieces are a little more earthbound, but are still pensive and in the moment, like Leek is discovering the soundtrack to some real-time scene. The mood grows a little repetitive at the halfway mark of the 16 tracks and a greater intrusion of field recordings or some other complication (such as the drone and telegraph noise of "Origami Soldiers") might have jarred the rising somnolence. The quality of play and conviction to keep thing micro rescue the album from also-ran status. Leek is one to keep an ear on.

original review

Future Sequence reviews "Skeleton Taxa" by Damian Valles

Although his seventh release, Skeleton Taxa is Canadian experimental artist Damian Valles' first full length CD 'proper'. Having more recently been exploring ambient and drone aesthetics in a string of limited CDrs, digital releases and compilations (not to mention the first Rural Route edition which he curates) this album sees Valles retain these components, but also reprise the sound sources he established in early work 'Count(r)ies' (2009). Released on Under The Spire, the album charted the artists' migration from big city to small town in Ontario, and the resulting experiences of the quieter lifestyle. Two years later, Skeleton Taxa feels like a culmination of Valles' sonic experiments, achieving something quite special.

Taxa is the plural of 'taxon' which is defined as a group of organisms. 'Skeleton Taxa' then, in this context is a number of groups of skeletons. The amorphous skeleton is at our physical core; without the differentiating elements such as skin, hair, eye colour, facial structure that make up our unique identities. Whilst it's not made explicit, Valles could well be concerning himself with the subject of death and what lies after it, certainly it is our bones that last beyond our conscious/waking life. A potentially morbid topic, but is of course perpetually captivating by its very definition.

There is structure to these pieces that approaches 'song' patterns. Even with the wider range of instrumentation - be that piano, guitar, synthesiser, drone or recording - Valles establishes a collage effect, stitched together with an embedded unrest but consistency of style. So rich is the soundscape that its difficult to paraphrase the work by any genre, each track reveals new treasures; juxtaposition of electronic tones against piano or guitar, worn drones contrasted with clatterings of objects in a room or as in 'Bell and Arc' the voice of the artists' wife Heidi. 

'Collapse Process' features a piano that sounds like it may be pinned, the reverberations from the instrument allowing extended life through effects so that the notes build into a droning back drop like vapourous ghosts. The post-mortem recording over 'Calavera' (Spanish for 'skull') has an antique air to it, a lurching menacing melody keeps a funeral bell march rhythm, Valles adds atonal violin and more and more sounds like an investigation of all parts of the body.

With a dynamic tonal and textural range Valles shows here that he is a master of his art, creating an ever shifting, ever unpredictable journey. 'Skeleton Taxa' is a beautifully rendered work defying categorisation, encapsulating the exploration of sound and challenging our notion of humanity within its duration.

Although his seventh release, Skeleton Taxa is Canadian experimental artist Damian Valles' first full length CD 'proper'. Having more recently been exploring ambient and drone aesthetics in a string of limited CDrs, digital releases and compilations (not to mention the first Rural Route edition which he curates) this album sees Valles retain these components, but also reprise the sound sources he established in early work 'Count(r)ies' (2009). Released on Under The Spire, the album charted the artists' migration from big city to small town in Ontario, and the resulting experiences of the quieter lifestyle. Two years later, Skeleton Taxa feels like a culmination of Valles' sonic experiments, achieving something quite special.

Taxa is the plural of 'taxon' which is defined as a group of organisms. 'Skeleton Taxa' then, in this context is a number of groups of skeletons. The amorphous skeleton is at our physical core; without the differentiating elements such as skin, hair, eye colour, facial structure that make up our unique identities. Whilst it's not made explicit, Valles could well be concerning himself with the subject of death and what lies after it, certainly it is our bones that last beyond our conscious/waking life. A potentially morbid topic, but is of course perpetually captivating by its very definition.

There is structure to these pieces that approaches 'song' patterns. Even with the wider range of instrumentation - be that piano, guitar, synthesiser, drone or recording - Valles establishes a collage effect, stitched together with an embedded unrest but consistency of style. So rich is the soundscape that its difficult to paraphrase the work by any genre, each track reveals new treasures; juxtaposition of electronic tones against piano or guitar, worn drones contrasted with clatterings of objects in a room or as in 'Bell and Arc' the voice of the artists' wife Heidi.

'Collapse Process' features a piano that sounds like it may be pinned, the reverberations from the instrument allowing extended life through effects so that the notes build into a droning back drop like vapourous ghosts. The post-mortem recording over 'Calavera' (Spanish for 'skull') has an antique air to it, a lurching menacing melody keeps a funeral bell march rhythm, Valles adds atonal violin and more and more sounds like an investigation of all parts of the body.

With a dynamic tonal and textural range Valles shows here that he is a master of his art, creating an ever shifting, ever unpredictable journey. 'Skeleton Taxa' is a beautifully rendered work defying categorisation, encapsulating the exploration of sound and challenging our notion of humanity within its duration.

original review

Caleidoscoop reviews "The Dreaming Invisible......." by Matt Bartram

Ik onderstreep het nog maar een keer: voor hedendaagse droommuziek moet je bij het Drifting Falling label zijn! Ze brengen de ene na de andere droomplaat uit, waarbij de genres variëren van singer-songwritermuziek en minimal tot shoegazermuziek. Tot die laatste categorie hoort de muziek van de Britse muzikant Matt Bartram. Hij is één van de ambassadeurs van de tweede generatie shoegazers geworden. Dat heeft hij 11 jaar lang laten horen met de eerder dit jaar ontbonden band Air Formation, maar ook in The Static Silence samen met Rachel Goldstar gaat hij al shoegazend te keer. Overigens heeft Air Formation al een vervolg gekregen dat You Walk Through Walls heet en waarin ook Matt terug te vinden is. In 2008 laat hij voor het eerst solo van zich horen met de sterke cd Arundel. Een jaar later krijgt dit een nog mooier en dromeriger vervolg met Left To Memory. Tussendoor blijft hij ook gewoon actief met zijn andere bands. Toch heeft hij tijd gevonden om weer een volgende album te maken met de veelzeggende titel The Dreaming Invisible……... Hij heeft in tegenstelling tot zijn vorige cd’s geen zang en drums gebruikt, enkel gitaar en effecten. Hiermee weet hij zwoele en tegelijkertijd desolate klanklandschappen te fabriceren waarvan je mond openvalt. De muziek is nog dromeriger dan voorheen; sterker nog, het is zelfs zo dromerig dat het moeilijk is geconcentreerd een recensie te schrijven. Meer dan ooit gaat de muziek richting de ambient, die opgebouwd wordt door drones, versnipperde shoegaze elementen en softnoise. Van de muziek gaat een zuigende werking uit, wat mede door de sterke opbouw in spiraalerende laagjes komt. Als in een muzikale draaikolk wordt je langzaam meegesleurd naar een surreële, maar wonderschone plek die vooral in je onderbewuste ergens lijkt te bestaan. Het is spannend,diepgaand, meeslepend, wonderschoon en gewoonweg compleet overrompelend. Hoewel de muziek een geheel eigen identiteit heeft, moet je om een idee te krijgen denken aan een hypnotiserende combinatie van subtractiveLAD, Yellow6, Tomas Weiss, Slowdive, Air Formation, Windy & Carl, Labradford en Flying Saucer Attack. Zie dan je mond maar weer eens dicht te krijgen. Matt Bartram levert een verbluffende en meesterlijke cd af. Zijn allermooiste en beste cd (op de cover na dan) tot nu toe!

original review | english auto-translation

Textura reviews Clem Leek's "Lifenotes"

In keeping with its pencil-drawn cover illustration, UK-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Clem Leek intentionally chose to keep Lifenotes' songs, in his own words, “very basic and raw.” But while there may be bedroom-styled production ambiance in play, there's nothing unfinished about the material in terms of quality. The album's sixteen pieces, old and new pieces alike, capture the full range of his composing gifts and command of multiple instruments, including piano, violin, and guitar, and software, such as Logic and Ableton Live. Some tracks are more piano-centered, while others use guitar as the point of lift-off. Regardless of the contrasts in arrangement, the material exudes a strong emotional punch, given the plaintive character of the songs and Leek's willingness to wear his heart on his sleeve so openly.

The album's pieces generally slot themselves into one of three categories: solo piano pieces, guitar settings, and field recordings-based meditations. Leek has sequenced the album, however, in such a way that the songs within each category type are dispersed, a move that camouflages to some degree the fact that the album's material can be grouped into said categories. Regardless, “Breaking Down,” “Rain Song,” and “Trying Too Hard” are lovely piano settings that put Leek in the same category as Nils Frahm and Peter Broderick, as far as sensitivity and melodic gifts are concerned. One might even be reminded of Michael Nyman or Philip Glass when piano chords alternate so insistently during the lilting “The Diary I Never Kept.” Ambient noises are often audible, whether it be the creak of the piano bench or the instrument's keys or someone making noise in an adjoining room, and rather than being distractions the sounds enhance the album's personalized and intimate feel. One of the album's prettiest pieces is “You're So Very Far Away,” which is elevated by the graceful swoop and peal of the electric guitar, while “Past the Pasture and Beyond the Hill” is elevated by a violin's mournful cry. Lifenotes covers many bases, as outdoors field recordings play a part in the recording, too, with a river's flow and bird chirps heard respectively on the ambient settings “The Middle Part” and “November 11th,” and there's also a rare excursion into experimental electro-acoustic drone territory (“Origami Soldiers”). Most of the songs are in the two-minute range, which on paper hardly seems long enough for a powerful emotional impact to be generated. Yet Leek manages to do so, with his compact vignettes enably inducing an affecting emotional response in the listener.

original review

Der Impuls reviews Clem Leek's "Lifenotes"

In Hamburg geht grad die Welt unter. Der richtige Zeitpunkt, bei diesem Schietwetter beruhigende Musik raus zu kramen, über die ich schon seit längerer Zeit mal was machen wollte. An solch einem Sonntag ist es nun soweit, wo kein Stück Kuchen, kein Becher warmer Tee und auch keine noch so schöne Kerze etwas entgegen zusetzen haben. Da hilft aber Musik, denn die richtige Wahl kann aus dunklen Wolken wahren Sonnenschein zaubern. So auch...

Ein Album voller Emotionen. Es nimmt den Hörer an die Hand und spaziert mit ihm durch kunstvolle Klangwelten, die der junge Leek auf seinem Tasteninstrument kreieren kann. Die 16 Lieder wurden mit großer Sorgfalt eingespielt und auf einem Tonträger gebracht, der genauso reduziert gestaltet wurde, wie die Musik auf der Scheibe. Nur das nötigste, was Schönheit ausmacht, wird hier in den Fokus gesetzt.

Seit längerer Zeit nun endlich von mir ein Import-Tipp, da Lifenotes in Deutschland (noch) nicht zu haben ist - jedenfalls nicht in physischer Form. Clem Leek hat aber großes Potential uns noch mehr mit solch großartiger Musik zu verwöhnen. Seine Diskografie spricht Bände...

original review | auto-translation to english

Autres Directions review Clem Leek's "Lifenotes"

Lifenotes est un carnet de croquis, d’œuvres de circonstances et d’instantanés. Le format d’un album – le second après Holly Lane (Hibernate, 2010) – mais la même spontanéité et la même simplicité confondante que Through The Annular et Snow Tales, les deux EP qui ont inauguré la discographie du jeune Anglais.

Les seize titres de Lifenotes semblent être rassemblés comme au gré d’un inventaire, au hasard de la mémoire, pour être présentés à nos sens, accompagnés d’un simple et humble « hum… voilà… je vous laisse avec ces petits instants. » Ce sont les témoins d’un talent brut, qui n’est pour l’heure jamais aussi flagrant que lorsqu’il s’offre ce plaisir des bonheurs de peu de choses et de bon goût. Au cœur de ce panier gourmand, le rôle central du piano, sobre et minimaliste. Chuchoté en charmantes gouttes. Mais aussi, des caresses de cordes à petites touches. Et pour la première fois, une guitare, fluide et limpide. On pense à July Skies, autre impressionniste de l’english countryside.

Lifenotes. Une ligne claire, d’évidence et de douceur. Les couleurs et la rondeur des saveurs d’automne. Compote de pommes et de coings. Éclats de cannelle et de poivre de Sichuan.

original review | auto-translation to english

Caleidoscoop reviews "Lifenotes" by Clem Leek

Original Review:
Vorige maand heb ik al gesteld dat het kwaliteitslabel Drifting Falling een ware hofleverancier van de dromerige muziek begint te worden en ergens in het rijtje van Kranky, Darla, n5MD en Under The Spire past. Op het label verschijnen uiteenlopende artiesten uit diverse genres die als gemene deler hebben dat de dromerigheid voorop staat. Dat wordt andermaal onderstreept door de nieuwe, officieel pas zijn tweede cd Lifenotes van Clem Leek, die eerder al een cd, cd-r’s, mini’s en cassettes uitbrengt op labels als Hibernate, Schedios, Dead Pilot, Rural Colours, Experimedia, Brian en Gizeh. Daarnaast geeft hij eerder dit jaar acte de presènce op de compilaties For Nihon en Kanshin, beide ten bate voor de slachtoffers in Japan. Deze Britse muzikant en multi-instrumentalist (piano, viool, gitaar, elektronica, veldopnames, drones en diverse andere instrumenten) brengt op zijn nieuwe cd wederom dromerige, verstilde en bovenal filmische muziek, die hij speciaal voor dit jaargetijde wellicht herfstachtig inkleurt. De hoofdmoot wordt gevormd door de droefgeestige pianoklanken, waarop hij zijn uiteenlopende creaties bouwt. De ene keer overheersen de veldopnames en drones en op andere momenten brengt hij ook andere instrumenten als viool en gitaar in stelling. Daarmee laveert hij op fraaie wijze tussen neoklassiek, ambient en minimale post-rock. Alle composities, die slechts tussen de minuut en 3,5 minuut eindigen, lijken zo weg te zijn gelopen uit een denkbeeldige film. Het geheel houdt het midden tussen Library Tapes, Max Richter, Dustin O’Halloran, Nils Frahm, Aaron Martin, Goldmund, Peter Broderick, Philip Glass, Wim Mertens en Michael Nyman. Stuk voor stuk zijn het breekbare, melancholische en bovenal wonderschone composities geworden, die diep onder de huid kruipen. Heerlijk om je gedachten en verbeelding even de vrije loop te laten. Zoals hij zelf in de cd stelt: “When your body hurts with emotion, only then do you know who you are”. Prachtige droomplaat!

Auto-translation:
Last month, I have argued that the quality Drifting Falling a true purveyor of dreamy music and starts to be somewhere in the list of Kranky, Darla, and n5MD Under The Spire fits. The label will appear different artists from various genres such as the common denominator that dreaminess comes first. This is again underlined by the new, officially begins his second CD Life Notes from Clem Leek , who earlier CD, CD-Rs, mini's and cassettes an opinion on labels such as Hibernate, CAL Dios, Dead Pilot, Rural Colours, Experimedia, Brian and Giza . He also earlier this year will be present on the compilations For Nihon and Kanshin , both for the benefit of the victims in Japan. This British musician and multi-instrumentalist (piano, violin, guitar, electronics, field recordings, drones and various other instruments) takes on his new CD again dreamy, quiet and most cinematic music that he composed especially for this time of year perhaps autumnal coloring. The main part is the melancholy piano notes, which he builds his various creations. Sometimes dominate the field recordings and drones, and at other times, he provides other instruments like violin and guitar position. That he navigates nice way between neo-classical, ambient and minimal post-rock. All compositions, only minutes and 3.5 minutes between the end seem to have walked away as from an imaginary movie. The whole is a cross between Library Tapes, Max Richter, Dustin O'Halloran, Nils Frahm, Aaron Martin, Goldmund, Peter Broderick, Philip Glass, Wim Mertens and Michael Nyman . Each one the fragile, melancholic and most beautiful compositions became deeply under the skin crawl. Great to here your thoughts and imagination free rein. As he himself states in the CD: "When your body hurts with emotion, only then do you know who you are." Beautiful dream album!  

original review