Caught In The Wake Forever - The Places Where I Worship You
I believe
that everybody travels here and there sometimes for pleasure . There are so many wonderful places
that our planet can offer us for our amusement, so many places to visit before
our consuming society ruins them with its constant chase after
industrialization progress and material valuables. Few weeks ago I watched a
documentary called "Trash" about the way we pollute everything around and turn
our world into one big dump. So, it is just the right moment to go out for a long
walk through vast northern woods or wander alongside beautiful beaches around,
or have some relaxing time by countryside. There are many different ways to preserve
these magical times, to capture the moment of a true connection with nature and
divinity. Some of us do it by taking visual images (photos or movies), but I
claim that sound can suit even better for this purpose, especially when it
carries traces of the most precious experience gained during such trips.
Therefore, if you take a look at your shelf with a CD collection searching for some artifact that could possibly help you to step back in time and create a direct channel to your best memories breaking chains of an everyday routine, a Scotland based project "Caught in the Wake Forever" will be certainly the right choice. Collecting sounds of this green and peaceful country, Fraser McGowan has been reconsidering the value of field recordings in combination with dreamy artificial drones for the last five years. Each album or EP has a real personal meaning for the artist and is very much like a chapter in the diary of his life and the album under the name "The Places Where I Worship You" is not an exception. As Fraser describes it in one of his interviews: "...sometimes the world gets in the way. Work can overshadow everything else. When outside distractions are stripped away and all that noise is gone, it’s easier to see what and who are important to you." At this point I press a play button of my CD player in an effort to merge with the idea of an overwhelming importance of certain things and emotions for mental health of individuality.
The musical snapshot starts with a composition called "On Lochranza Shores" as a tribute to the most northerly sited of Scotland's Arran's villages. Every tune breathes clean air and soft grass proving that no flavor can compare with intoxicating freshness of nature itself. Gentle splashes of cozy waves and distant squawks of seagulls organically match into colorful drones which flow carefree out of my speakers. A short interlude "Sun Downing" paints waters of a bay in all shades of crimson and red washing the body in the last rays of the fading day. A very dreamy melody welcomes the listener in "Wreaths" guided by splashes of water and a pulsating signal from outer space setting a strong connection between celestial and terrestrial elements.
A dash of cool sensation fills my body as the album continues to carry me through its second part. Simply let the sole sound of piano lull you when "Our Own Loch View" covers the earth with a veil of a heavy mist. Immerse in this continuous drift towards breathtaking views of the vast expanses, forget about time and space, about your mortal shell because the only thing that matters is what surrounds you in your solitude, what makes your spirit shine. "Your Absent Breath" is full of birds singing and chilly streams splashing, carrying their lazy waters and inviting the listener to follow their gentle steps towards a big sea. By the end of this quite meditative journey I find myself in "Often Nowhere" closing a droning loop with its relaxing sounds.
"I just try to make music that is personally true to myself and represents how I am feeling at that time. It’s very much an extension of my person..." These words belong to Mr. McGowan and I am likely to agree with him after listening to "The Places" a dozen of times feeling a deep connection to the truth in it. Unlike lots of other ambient albums which combine field recordings in them, the creation of this Scotland based resident is very balanced and well crafted, establishing a very interesting symbiosis between natural sounds and electronic / acoustic instruments. I've heard a lot of records before that had a bias in favor of one of those worlds. Thus, I believe that I hold in my hands another pearl from the house of a young Moscow based label Dronarivm Records.
Jul 15 2015
Therefore, if you take a look at your shelf with a CD collection searching for some artifact that could possibly help you to step back in time and create a direct channel to your best memories breaking chains of an everyday routine, a Scotland based project "Caught in the Wake Forever" will be certainly the right choice. Collecting sounds of this green and peaceful country, Fraser McGowan has been reconsidering the value of field recordings in combination with dreamy artificial drones for the last five years. Each album or EP has a real personal meaning for the artist and is very much like a chapter in the diary of his life and the album under the name "The Places Where I Worship You" is not an exception. As Fraser describes it in one of his interviews: "...sometimes the world gets in the way. Work can overshadow everything else. When outside distractions are stripped away and all that noise is gone, it’s easier to see what and who are important to you." At this point I press a play button of my CD player in an effort to merge with the idea of an overwhelming importance of certain things and emotions for mental health of individuality.
The musical snapshot starts with a composition called "On Lochranza Shores" as a tribute to the most northerly sited of Scotland's Arran's villages. Every tune breathes clean air and soft grass proving that no flavor can compare with intoxicating freshness of nature itself. Gentle splashes of cozy waves and distant squawks of seagulls organically match into colorful drones which flow carefree out of my speakers. A short interlude "Sun Downing" paints waters of a bay in all shades of crimson and red washing the body in the last rays of the fading day. A very dreamy melody welcomes the listener in "Wreaths" guided by splashes of water and a pulsating signal from outer space setting a strong connection between celestial and terrestrial elements.
A dash of cool sensation fills my body as the album continues to carry me through its second part. Simply let the sole sound of piano lull you when "Our Own Loch View" covers the earth with a veil of a heavy mist. Immerse in this continuous drift towards breathtaking views of the vast expanses, forget about time and space, about your mortal shell because the only thing that matters is what surrounds you in your solitude, what makes your spirit shine. "Your Absent Breath" is full of birds singing and chilly streams splashing, carrying their lazy waters and inviting the listener to follow their gentle steps towards a big sea. By the end of this quite meditative journey I find myself in "Often Nowhere" closing a droning loop with its relaxing sounds.
"I just try to make music that is personally true to myself and represents how I am feeling at that time. It’s very much an extension of my person..." These words belong to Mr. McGowan and I am likely to agree with him after listening to "The Places" a dozen of times feeling a deep connection to the truth in it. Unlike lots of other ambient albums which combine field recordings in them, the creation of this Scotland based resident is very balanced and well crafted, establishing a very interesting symbiosis between natural sounds and electronic / acoustic instruments. I've heard a lot of records before that had a bias in favor of one of those worlds. Thus, I believe that I hold in my hands another pearl from the house of a young Moscow based label Dronarivm Records.
Jul 15 2015
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