Accelera Deck "Pop Polling" CD
[Scarcelight]
This is only my second exposure to Accelera Deck's work, but surprisingly enough this is the project's eighth full-length effort, totaling barely under an hour of ambience created through electronically manipulated guitar melodies. Some tracks are more fluid than others, with certain compositions sounding more abstract and experimental in their masking of the guitar as a source instrument. There's probably more of the latter approach in tow on this outing, but that suits me just fine. "Come Alive" uses some glitchy effects and spacy ethereal textures for a little more movement and activity than some of the other pieces (though that doesn't make it a stronger selection), which is similar to the more lushly chilled out "Isn't" much later on, while "Ski" is a condensed four-minute take on the track that made up the 3" CD-R of the same name awhile back in 13-minute form. Among the significantly longer tracks is "Lips", which tops 12 minutes and uses distant strings plucked at the base to create a piano-like effect that works well over lightly distorted drones and feedback that are a little more aggressive than most of this material, without taking it too far ("Sunskull" is the noisiest track without question, louder and a bit more abrasive straight off the bat); as well as "As Always", which runs more than 14 minutes and is one of the softer and more restrained ambient selections. This one's smoother and decidedly more sinister than its companions herein, and makes for one of the true standouts for sure. Also among my favorites are the sparse subtleties of the wispy "Piezo", which is basically a slow build from start to finish as things increase in volume and end with one fluid chord, and "Pop Polling", which is structured more like an actual song and makes the most unflinching use of melody for a rather moving opener for the CD. I'd love to hear more work along those specific lines to balance out the less structured elements of this set of songs. The sound quality is of course very nice, with a great sense of clarity as well as resonant depth to all of the sounds, but I have to confess that I find the artwork to be, well... pretty ugly. In fact, the unattractive nature of the cover art actually made me put off listening to this because I was afraid I wouldn't like it, so... since I'm actually pretty into the music herein I'd definitely suggest stronger color schemes and a more fitting aesthetic for this project's future work, as the visual accompaniment was among my only complaints with his last release as well. The total running time's on the long side here, but what makes for a consistent listen glides through that obstacle without much of a problem. This guy's obviously very talented at making a guitar more than just a guitar, and doing so by rarely using the instrument in its traditional sense. Quite an enjoyable disc, if I do say so myself. (7/10)
Running time - 58:27, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Pop Polling, Piezo, As Always]
Scarcelight Recordings - http://www.scarcelight.org

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