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Phillip Wilkerson & Chris Russell — Imaginary Realities
(Spotted Peccary SPM-9109, 2025, DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-02-14

Imaginary Realities Cover art

Wilkerson and Russell’s latest collaboration, Imaginary Realities, follows their earlier Spotted Peccary releases, Vague Traces (2014) and Dark Measures (2021), just a fraction of what both artists have released in the last twenty years or so on a variety of labels, and self released as well. We can only hope that the collaborations between them will continue well into the future, as these three have been nothing short of excellent. With each of the seven pieces at hand, the focus seems to be more wholly on ambient dronescapes brushed with sparkling highlights, random melodics, and interesting textures that engulf the listener in a warm blanket of stillness and everpresent sonic depth, slowly exploding and receding as a new world of unpredictable energies unfold before the listener, marking somewhat of a departure from the duo’s previous collaborations. One will hear plenty of synthesizers of course, as well as various sampled sounds, mysterious textures, odd unidentifiable percussives, and once in a while something like a note or three from a piano, all embellished in a whirlwind of processing, perhaps even distant muted voices here and there along the album’s trajectory, which is about an hour in length. A cut like “Revealing the Concealed” leaves no doubt to the duo’s electronic origins, as the piece shimmers with light and shadows as it follows an evolutionary path, wandering in and out of the focal plane, sometimes with a dreamy sun-washed beauty. The opener, “Liftoff,” merges sampled bell-like sounds into overall swirling textures that drift and sway as powerful sprites light up the night sky. As one descends through a mysterious fog-like dome in the opening minutes of “Principles of Creation,” a gentle chaos ensues and one can find themselves inside a rich fabric of emotive dreamscapes, quickly followed by the subtle random percussives of “Manifesting Presence.” If one needs a steady beat or groove, you won’t find any of that here, these are portals into worlds of dream. “Abandoning Desire” is the long stretch that’s close to fifteen minutes, shifting effortlessly through dark and mysterious textural worlds, ultimately leading to the closing title track, a brighter burst of sunlight and warmth that caresses the soul at the end of the journey. Explorative and wonderous, Imaginary Realities is like having an open door that segues into an alternate universe.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Phillip Wilkerson, Chris Russell

More info
http://wilkerson-russell.bandcamp.com/album/imaginary-realities

 

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