Robert Scott Thompson - Poesis Athesis
J. Jury | London | 12/13/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"STYLE
Serene, graceful melodic electronic music with a pervasive oriental slant. Poesis Athesis is made up of electro-ambient soundscapes with occasional ethnic fusion beats supporting gentle themes carried by bowed strings, piano or diverse synthetic voices. The string melodies sound very much like the Chinese er-hu in delivery consciously drawing on the Eastern associations of the instrument - breathy flutes, metallic gongs and bowl sounds further building on this exotic imagery. In places strange whirling effects stir the air, or sounds suggestive of night insects, ruffling the stiller tones of the silky synths that underpin much of the music. The beats contain a variety of soft hand drums - deep booming skins and muted pads - overlaid with the restrained clatter and wooden tapping of lighter percussives. The pace varies considerably across the album - there are some very slow measured passages where the percussion barely maintains a beat, dreamy swaying patterns creating a mystical impression; other places lose the beat altogether - the music meandering and doleful. The album includes an homage to Erik Satie - sparse piano lines against strings reminiscent of some of the composer's most enduring pieces, although here with a somewhat more brooding tone.
ARTWORK
Poesis Athesis arrives in a matt finish digipack. Spread from front to back is a panoramic landscape of frosty pale blues and white. A mirror still body of water makes up the foreground - dark rocks dotting the surface, spotting the inverted mountain. A deep blue band of shadow bisects the image wedge-like, forming a suitable ground for the title. On the back cover track titles are recorded with timings alongside, Lens Records logo below. Framed in fine white borders a series of pale graphic motifs run in a horizontal line - oriental character, long necked phoenix with arching wings. Within the ouside image is repeated - this time with a human figure elegantly posed in martial arts stance right in the foreground. More small framed panels here hold different shots of the same figure - poses and locations varied.
OVERALL
Poesis Athesis is the first album from Robert Scott Thompson to appear through Lens Records. The music here was written initially as accompaniment to a series of films for Chi Kung Master Terrence Dunn. These compositions resulted in over ten hours of music written during a two year period - here honed down to thirteen tracks totalling seventy eight minutes. The pieces on this disc could well accompany massage or relaxation activities, yet these are clearly more sophisticated compositions than much new-age music created for that purpose. Robert Scott Thompson has delivered an absorbing album with ambient roots that ventures into understated, moody melody coloured with the rich sounds of the Far East - eerily beautiful in places, haunting and lulling at the same time.
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Track Listings (13) - Disc #1