Stephen Philips & Ben Summers:
Beyond The Glaze

phisum-btg.jpg (24k) Stephen Philips & Ben Summers: Beyond The Glaze
(Dark Duck - 1999)

By now we're all familiar with Dark Duck leader Stephen Philips and his various musical guises... this time he collabs with Ben Summers. Disengage reality as the duo sets their trajectory for Beyond The Glaze... (and into the haze).

Deep space seems to be the place from which these unfettered tones emamate... (in fact, they were recorded at Deep Space Studios, so there...)

Brassy rays expand and contract from the Shadows (22:17) which extend into the farthest reaches of imagination. Streamlined musical strands glimmer amongst more abstract hisses, drones and other sci-fi effects. The track segues right into Longing, almost 15 more minutes of interstellar activities... drifting, warbling, phasing in and out teleporter-style, like the space-strings which carry over from that piece, resurfacing in Transition; clones of their previous incarnations are joined by additional buzzing reverberations and arpeggiated twinkles.

Similarly, the pulsing energies of that track, reappear in Beyond the Glaze, where strident strands begin to oscillate and the low end forms a crawling three- and four-note riff. The spacious interplay of a hypnotic, though beatless, groove and electronic blips, chirps and sweeps is entrancing to hear. Conjoined tones continue Into the Haze... a dreamier realm of intermingling tones differing in timbres and lengths, swelling and receding gently. The disc closes on the irradiated, softly turbulent waves of Toward the Mirror (1:53) which ripple in impossibly contorted tones.

Space heads... the mothership has landed... with Stephen Philips & Ben Summers steering her down from the celestial heights. For the rest of us, Beyond The Glaze may even seem a bit toospacey at times, though the undeniable lure of beatless abstractions rolling through the starry void between our ears is always welcome. An 8.3 starflight of fancy. 8-3.gif
This review posted July 29, 2000

AmbiEntrance © 2000-1997 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).