Search - Brannan Lane :: Troposphere

An awestruck mood or fascinated mind-set pervades each piece

02/02/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lane subtitles this release as a "Soundtrack for Your Head" and indeed as a "sounds collection" - it is rich and varied. If you seek an experience, a journey of imagination, and aural props for some internal story line - do obtain yourself of a copy of Lane's ambient work. Much of this sonic voyage is too interesting to completely relax to, too involving to ignore, and much too mysterious and foreboding to find perfect "peace".And is this music? Much of Lane's ambient art is not. There are places where space music elements come out but things rarely finally lilt into a musicality. This is a head-trip of synths and effects, panned left to right, whirling about, echoes, flanged, phase-shifted, droning, blipping, and ringing. It is very, very professionally handled and extremely effective for setting a mood. But what mood? That is a very difficult call. When relaxation might set in, there still is an edge-of-your-hearing "thing" happening "over there" or suddenly there's a "scene change" and you're off into another sonic scenario. If Lane were to vigorously market his skills as a soundtrack/ effects man to movie production companies, I can guarantee they'd be impressed and within a year or two he'd land a deal somewhere. His stuff is that good, really excellent techniques.As a relaxation device or background ambience - I cannot fairly recommend Lane. At least this release and his other ambient work to date - all evoke an active participation, as they are predominantly mentally involving and keep grabbing your attention. In some places, during a few tracks, you will find a relaxing fugue or two but there's that shadow of "something's about to happen, I better watch out for whatever it is . . ." These are of course, my subjective feelings upon immersing my head in Lane's world. Yet, I feel confident in saying Lane leans towards a dark ambience of subdued tensions. An awestruck mood or fascinated mind-set pervades each piece. This is exactly the type stuff to listen to and find inspiration for writing sci-fi/fantasy/horror adventure stories.So give Lane a spin and experience his strange world of mystery. It's a very cool place to cruise through. ~ John W. Patterson"