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Dickson & Familiar — All the Light of Our Sphere
(Bandcamp Sounds Familiar no#, 2025, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-12-12

All the Light of Our Sphere Cover art

Glenn Dickson is an acclaimed clarinetist probably best known for his involvement in various klezmer groupings, among them Naftule’s Dream, Shirim, and the eclectic rock band Hypnotic Clambake. Bob Familiar has been active in the Boston music scene since the early 80s as a synthesist in various bands, inspired by artists such as Eno, Philip Glass, and Roedelius. His live performances often incorporate live looping and sound manipulation techniques. So what happens when two musicians from such different backgrounds get together to create something new? What’s here in these nine tracks could be described as dreamy, ambient, melodic, and very unusual, at once both visionary and exotic, but always gentle on the spirit, never jagged or abrasive. One might be reminded of what Evening Star might have sounded like if Robert Fripp played clarinet instead of guitar. The looping structures built from melodic sounds and shimmering synths seem to float in space in some kind of beautiful, alternate cosmos. The title track begins with the sound of a Rhodes piano, though strangely effected with shimmering tone variations, amid a backdrop of electronics, and then the sweet melody from the clarinet jumps into the mix and the result is nothing short of stunning. The opener “When Fortune Laid the Trojans Low” brings the clarinet to the fore first, with the synth producing some genuinely unusual percussive sounds as the piece progresses. The clarinet begins the proceedings softly on “Just One Inch in a Hundred Years,” though before long the synths and other interesting morsels of sound are gently filling up any remaining spaces in the dark corridor, while the overtly elastic “Sweet Seed from Bitter Fruit” fuses synth loops and unusual sounds together before the clarinet makes its first appearance midway through. All taken together, this journey is powerful and majestic, something that fans of ambient looping should definitely get in touch with.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Glenn Dickson, Bob Familiar

More info
http://dicksonfamiliar.bandcamp.com/album/all-the-light-of-our-sphere

 

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