3 Lobed
Spectre Folk : Requiem for Ming Aralia (US,2006)**°
Spectre Folk is Pete Nolan of Magic Markers, Wooden Wand & The Vanishing Voice, and a few other bands. This is Spectre Folk's first full-length CD after a few privately released CDR's. The music still is recorded lo-fi but with an effect that fits the recording. On “Tendrils Floating Fastly” we hear an improvised trio-of-sounds of almost filmic and oriental trippy keyboards, with plectrum driven oscillating electric guitar mixed with slowly pulsating bass sounds, which after 10 moody minutes abruptly ends. A similar sound of slow keyboards reappears with acoustic guitar, this time carrying a song called “You Showed me” which is somewhat disappearing into the environmental acoustics of the surrounding space. This is not too well recorded, but this fits well with the foggy atmosphere. “Indiana” starts more experimentally, like the sound of the cloudy atmosphere itself, moving and brooding, with the acoustic guitar and a voice coming through and appearing after penetrating through the dark clouds and wind. The semi-oriental mood, expressed with voice and guitar comes back, melancholically driven by the remaining wind. “Been Here and gone” is another lo fi track recorded now with some wind in the microphone, slightly lost in the environment once more, as fitting with the song of all its lost-and-gones. Last track, “Bindi Clip” is an improvisational outro of various electric guitars with a portion of a tunnel/wall effect, which like the first track ends abruptly with not much reason to do so.
