Glok/Timothy Clerkin - Alliance (Bytes)

 

Title: Alliance

Artist: Glok/Timothy Clerkin

Label: Bytes

Cat Number: BYTES30

Genre: Cosmic Chug

01:Empyrean

02: AmigA

03: Nothing Ever

04: Scattered

05: The Witching Hour

06: E-Theme

07: Nothing Ever (Reprise)

The ‘pagan, pre-christian headspace’ referred to in the press for this collaboration between Andy Bell and Timothy Clerkin is something noticeable from the off. That sonic sweet spot being quickly attained on the mordant throb and grind that is ‘Empyrean’; a dark, electronic  folk freak out. It’s the off-kilter wonkiness of the horns in the breakdown that does it for me, and then the low drone that sounds like a hurdy-gurdy on steroids. It’s a mood that is thankfully pursued to the end of this conceptual ode to the British countryside turned upside down. ‘AmigA’ with its dominant organ motif which, along with the guitar, harmonic vocals and undulating synths resplendent with high end flourishes coalesces to become a pastoral psychedelic hymn. Words aren’t necessary, you fill in the blanks. ‘Nothing Ever’ is a song though. The vocals rising through the fuzz and smeared ambience to dominate its twisted, cultivated context. This is pre-industrial revolution agrarian rock seen through a twenty first century context. Having to go backward in order to go forward isn’t an uncommon approach. However, the great paradox of this is that is sounds anything but retro, even while it conspicuously wears its influences. So both ‘Scattered’ and ‘The Witching Hour’ carry with it them the residual debris of first generation psychedelic workouts. It feels like happenings were conceived to showcase magical music such as this; portentous and throbbing. The latter lets the 303 loose, adding another dimension and amplifying the disorder which counterintuitively manages to hold itself together. Ushering out the collection with a reprise of ‘Nothing Ever’, which closes on a euphoric note, something that has always co-existed on a parallel level with occultish and hallucinatory traits throughout the entirety of this album developing them into some sort of discofied wall of sound on which multiple personas and worlds co-exist.