Rothko: Forty Years to Find a Voice
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Rothko: Forty Years to Find a Voice
(Lo Recordings - 1999)
While not often purely "ambient", the sounds of Rothko are definitely atmospheric and bear the unusual distinction of being powered by three (count 'em... three!) bass guitars. Runny watercolors in blurry shades of gray might be an appropriate visual counterpart for the dozen generally-short tunes on Forty Years to Find a Voice; the pieces are sometimes on the verge of sorrow, but never without spirit.
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Sounding like the soft, contemplative side of early alternative rock (minus drums and guitars), Rothko's off-the-cuff compositions are drenched in reverb and melancholy. Resonant tones, like bittersweet memories, linger.
Despite being the only track with lyrics, the opening number (Open) sets the tone for these moodily dreamlike bass excursions as hazy guitar-like notes spaciously ring around murmured vocals.
Livelier strumming of multiple bass guitars and a fluid flute-haze inhale life into Breatharian.
Solder connects a thrumming maze of low drones and softly pulsating feedback. Spunkily blaring trumpet drifts like a trailing jet stream in the mutedly playful pluckings of Sky Blue Glow (1:29). A slurry whirlpool of plucks and resonance, Us To Become Sound (7:26) features lovely spiraling strands of meandering high notes and mist-covered squeals.
More experimental, Dream of Mountain Air delivers a mysterious scene, as crystalline glints arise from sputtering floes of static hum and droning low-end vibrations. With a medieval-ish lilt, A Search for No Answer uncovers counterpointing bass-tones stitching intertwining patterns amid sweetly streaming fog.
Ringing strings sparkle like fireflies who have Flown across a barely-perceptible evening breeze... achingly gentle and all too short, a beautiful closing.
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Rothko overpowers with the surprisingly delicate grace of bass, ambling into emotionally-stirring gray areas. Forty Years to Find a Voice took only 42-and-a-half minutes to melt into my psyche with nostalgic tones and timeless moods. 10 or 12 years ago, this disc would have topped the college charts, like a mellower, more melodic version of Sonic Youth perhaps.
Dutch-East has this 8.9-rated stringed stunner in CD and LP, plus many more selections across the style spectrum.
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This review posted August 31, 2001
P.S. Through a screw up of mine, Forty Years to Find a Voice took over a year to get posted here.
Should've appeared in the 07/00 edition but slipped through the cracks. What can I say but "D'ohh!"
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