meg bowles: from the dark earth meg bowles: from the dark earth (Kumatone - 1999) Call it Space Brass or Jazzbient, perhaps? At any rate, witness the sonic melding of meg bowles's gorgeous ambient electronics with David Bilger's freeform trumpet in her latest release, from the dark earth. Oddly, it works... (and will be even more irresistible to those who have an existing trumpet appreciation). To learn more from the source, read this month's AmbiEntrance interview with meg. More than three minutes of lushly spacious synth ambience opens shapeshifter, after which the dark textures are overlain with flowing trumpet, light bass and almost imperceptible beats. The horn sometimes placidly soars, other times erupts into jazzy licks (and I'm picturing Doc Severinsen blowing in some dusky alien landscape). Odd bedfellows perhaps, but they're definitely stirring up something different to my ears. Airy drifts and a slow bassline begin the melancholy night sun journey (11:11); the distant squall of the void and intertwining synth layers comingle with brassy meanderings. This ear-trek wanders through a maze of alien locales, past free-flowing synth fountains, through majestic horn swells, then winding up on a sparsely starlit plateau, as everything melts away. Again, I'm enjoying the spaciously dark ambience of the longer intro into the forgotten valley, then the trumpeting begins. Interestingly subtle shades are achieved through layering the sounds in cascading sheets and luscious synth washes. Faint tribal influences stir when approaching ancestral ground where a slightly spookier mood hangs, though the light-hearted brass riffs infuse warm rays of sunlight across the scene, which closes in dark-edged synth haze. Arpeggiated space-bleeps and long electronic strands form the backdrop of strange rapids (4:45) which flow underneath an intricate brass structure. When between shadows and prayers, the mood is more pensive, cast in a gray light; this region is particularly lovely with its spacey blackness lit by irradiating streams of gold. As the title may lead you to imagine, twilight embrace is a soft evening flow, almost dark yet glowing with color. Bowle's transcendental atmospheres are entwined in slowly encircling notes from Bilger's horn. vigil utilizes a bass pulse and rhythmic effects to propel through the murkily boiling synthclouds, which are often unfortunately obscured by gleaming brasstones. neptune's slumber occurs in the amorphous depths, adrift on subsonic ripples and gauzey flow (and is horn-free for the first 3.5 minutes). When the trumpet flow overcomes the organic environment, it begins softly, then enlarges its scope in a mighty swell, cinematically unfolding before it slowly vanishes. I admit to owning a certain prejudice against the trumpet, not usually part of my musical sphere. I automatically think of Herb Alpert, or cheesy 1960's science film music, but from the dark earthhas shown me the horn can be given a few new sonic twists. Still, call me biased - frankly, I could have the trumpet relegated to two or three tracks, and spend most of my time basking in Meg Bowles liquified electronic stew. Despite my horn resistance, I cannot deny the mastery I hear and bestow a brassily gleaming 9.0 This review posted June 25, 1999 AmbiEntrance © 1999-97 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).