Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Wisteria - Shelley Parker (Hypercolour)

 


Title: Wisteria

Artist: Shelley Parker 

Label: Hypercolour

Cat Number: HYPELP020

Genre: Hardcore Ambience


A1: Scrubs Lane

A2: Shimmer

B1: Coldstream

B2: Glisten

C1: Cage

C2: Deluge

D1: The Faun

D2: Deepfield Way


I’m a big fan of listening to albums in the order in which they were intended. This is generally a much more rewarding and cohesive experience than shuffling stuff. Randomness is cool and all, but can sound like broken syntax. Structure is, I think, one of the most important as aspects of Shelley Parker’s fine piece of work for Hypercolour. Named after everybody’s favourite climber, ‘Wisteria’ is a very connected collection that begins with the portentous ‘Scrubs Lane’ a tune that is vast in scope and where hardcore-inspired breakbeats play second fiddle to the music of the spheres. This approach evolves further on ‘Shimmer’ and ‘Coldstream’, only to pause for thought on ‘Glisten’ and ‘Cage’ where the breakbeats become more emphatic and muscular. ‘Deluge’ is a complete tempo change; it’s beating heart establishing a more direct route to sonic nirvana, all the while flanked by dissonant cacophony which remains weirdly incantational. The breakbeats return on both ‘The Faun’ and ‘Deepfield Way’, but altogether darker and more corrosive that before. In spite of it’s solid structure, this is a challenging listen from start to finish, but it’s a rewarding all-enveloping one.

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