And now, just a quick mention of another stellar album released this past Friday. As a Portlander who seeks out local art and also appreciates creative composition, both David Allred and Peter Broderick are pretty important figures. Labelmates on Erased Tapes, Allred and Broderick both collaborate within different spheres of PNW musicians (and sometimes the same), actively helping to cross-pollinate this healthy artistic ecosystem.
Broderick and Allred, respectively. Photo courtesy of Erased Tapes.
The duo has joined forces in the past, but their most recent offering is a distillation of an 11-hour (!!!) soundtrack to Jennifer Anderson and Vernon Lott's film, #monalisa. Mastered by Ian Hawgood, the eight tracks on the strangely-titled What the Fog capture different movements within the larger score, acting as a neat sampler to a larger sonic narrative. Due to the massive scope of the original recording, the selected tracks showcase a great degree of variation, making What the Fog quite an engaging listen.
Three tracks in particular stand out, though they all warrant a listen, of course. First, opener The Foghorn aims straight for epic, first by way of echoing trumpet calls and then with a building piano march, before all sounds fade away as softly as they began. Later on, Shadow Diver blasts a wall of distorted guitar feedback which eventually drops into a surprise classic rock jam. The listener can almost picture Allred and Broderick joined by Nick Mason in Pompeii. Then, in the final minutes of closer Outer Lands, the duo provides the perfect bookend: a stripped-down piano melody acting as a beautiful send-off. Again, the amount of style diversity across the album is quite astounding.
What the Fog is currently only available on Dauw Label's Bandcamp page digitally or on vinyl, but get this: it's pay-what-you-will until January 29th. So check it out through the link above, and hear a sample below.
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