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Weingarten Ormiston Neon — Submergings
(Multiphase Records MP-CD 109, 1981/2001, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2002-04-01

Submergings Cover art

Living up to its ambitious subtitle, “A Study in Sonic Ambience,” Submergings represents the earliest commercially available recordings by composer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Carl Weingarten in collaboration with two other St. Louis based musicians, Gale Ormiston (synths) and Phil Neon (electric guitar). Most of the material here is based in loops, delays, electronic sounds, and ambient soundscapes, taking its cue no doubt from the collaborative work of Eno and Fripp a few years before, but taking it into denser and darker sonic territory, full of dissonance and experimentation, with a touch of the raw aggression that might be more readily compared to the late 70s work of Richard Pinhas and Heldon. The opening and closing pieces, “Layers in Sequence” and “Submergings,” are both free-floating explorations, and completely free of a rhythmic anchor; it is here where raw textural experimentation meets the outer reaches of imaginative force, where the musicians are fully engaged in every moment of the creative process. “Transitions,” on the other hand, is essentially a five part Weingarten solo creation, featuring looped human voice samples juxtaposed with synth washes, acoustic guitar interludes, environmental sounds, and attack-delayed guitar loops, resulting in perhaps the most experimental piece on the disc. “Jonah” is carried by a heavy synth-based rhythmic framework, supporting playful meandering melodies, sometimes recalling the work of Synergy’s Cords or Games, but in a more raw and dangerous context. Ormiston and Weingarten would team up again in ’83 for Windfalls, but they would never make another one quite like this. Recommended.

Filed under: Reissues, Issue 24, 2001 releases, 1981 recordings

Related artist(s): Carl Weingarten, David Udell

More info
http://carlweingarten.bandcamp.com/album/submergings

 

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