Exposé Online banner

Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

Snorkel — Past Present Still Tense
(Slowfoot SLO044, 2025, 2LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2025-12-16

Past Present Still Tense Cover art

Snorkel is a collective of musicians from varied backgrounds who come together to produce music with little respect for established stylistic boundaries. They do, however, share an aesthetic that flows through Past Still Present Tense, which involves applying techniques of dub production to sounds with a basis in either electronics or jazz. The result is a kind of minimalism that’s not far removed from some of the experimental music that came out of Germany in the 70s, or Brian Eno’s non-ambient work, like the instrumental tracks from Another Green World. The participants in this endeavor are Frank Byng (drums, samples, voice, acoustic and electronic percussion, synths, piano), Ben Cowen (keyboards and synths), Charles Stuart (vocals, keyboards, synths, acoustic and electronic percussion, drum machine), Tom Marriott (trombone, effects), 129 (sampler, guitar, casiotone, unprepared guitar), Ralph Cumbers (modular synth, bass, electronics, drum machine, trombone, analog synths, percussion), and Roberto Sassi (guitar), with Nick Doyne-Ditmas adding bass on two tracks. But in spite of all that gear, the music is generally sparse, with loping grooves built on drums or drum machine, simple bass lines, synths that noodle around rather than playing chords or melodies, rhythmic jabs from guitar, and the occasional bits from trombones. One thing they certainly don’t do is use these percolating grooves to underpin melodies or improvised solos. It’s all about the atmosphere and the collective feeling, not individual expression. The range of sounds they explore is quite engaging, and the 19 tracks touch on many moods and tempos, with the longest only running to seven minutes and many under three. I can imagine the guys in the studio. One says, “Hey, check out this cool sound I found.” Clacketa-clacketa-clack. “Yeah, that’s cool. What should we do with it?” “How about looping it with an echo?” “Great! And I can play this funky drum groove.” “I’ll twiddle some knobs.” A few minutes later: “That was nice. What should we call it?” Repeat until you have enough to fill two LPs. Maybe there was more to it than that. And speculating about the process shouldn’t detract from the value of the result. Past Still Present Tense is an enjoyable album, and for my money works better than floating ambient music as a background for other tasks.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Snorkel

More info
http://snorkelmusic.bandcamp.com/album/past-still-present-tense

 

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.