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Zarko · 03-30-2009, 07:02 AM

Fog Dance, My Moth Kingdom – Worrytrain (2007)

GENRES - Neoclassical, Ambient, Electronic, Noise

Prelude For Piano And Malaria – 4:46
Celestial Police – 2:40
For Auschwitz – 3:13
Thundertrance Interlude – 3:05
Achtung, God – 3:18
Hospitalized – 1:49
Soviet Passages – 2:12
White Phosphorus Angels – 6:19
The Moth Screamed Harvest – 2:43
Saturniidae – 5:12
Cambodia (Piano Duet) – 3:45
Exorcism For Cello And Malaria – 6:54
The Trenches Choir – 8:47
Ode To Faithful Kataklysm – 2:37
End Theme – 1:48

Worrytrain is a fairly new find for me… The man behind the name, Joshua Neil Geissler, offers an experimental mix between neoclassical music, minimalism, electronics and sometimes just pure noise. Nonetheless, Fog Dance is an interesting experience. Sometimes it feels generic, yet still beautiful, and as soon as that feeling comes, it can be overtaken by a simple ‘What the **** was this bloke thinking?’ The most common instruments through the album are piano and violin, and the result is an album worth checking out.

The album opens with ‘Prelude for Piano and Malaria’ which is a haunting and echoing piece performed primarily via piano. The level of resonance creates an interesting depth. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but during production it seems the actual pitch of the song was lowered, creating a thick and distorted sound rather than a clean and sharp piano key strike. As the song progresses the echoing starts to layer upon itself, creating some fascinating tones. ‘Celestial Piece’ builds on the piano work, which is a bit cleaner, with the introduction of a string ensemble. The dark tone is still present, and comes to the fore when the repetitive string pieces are interrupted by some wind instrument of some type.

‘For Auschwitz’ is a slow and sombre piece primarily made up of strings and piano work. It instills a sentiment of menace and sadness. Whilst it is sort of a ‘generic’ piece of neoclassical work, it is nonetheless a nice piece. The strings and piano work well in unison and it is simply an enjoyable construct.

‘Thundertrance Interlude’ heralds the introduction of the electronics and noise to the album. At the beginning it is a random assortment of single notes being played on various instruments, animal noises and other such things to boggle the mind. Then it is an attack of pure white noise changed across various tones and levels. 5/6ths of the song is this altered white noise. As quickly as it comes, the heavy electronics exit the scene. However, there are still prevailing elements throughout the album, rather than pure neoclassical music. ‘Achtung, God’ begins as a normal, well done, neoclassical piece, however now the backing at various places is made primarily of synth. This becomes more prominent as heavier beats start overpowering the strings and keyboard. The menace that was prevalent in past pieces has now picked up its pace. The addition really does turn the album around from a boring, generic neoclassical album to something with a bit more flavour, and this is the real beginning of the album for me.

‘Hospitalised’ remind me of music in hospitals in movies or video games… The constant ‘calming’ influence, however it is surrounded with a rather large cloud of fear and worry. The piece seems altered purely to assist in creating this effect. It’s only a short piece, but it is quite wonderful in my opinion. ‘Soviet Passages’ is a piece with a bit more oomph in it, created by the martial folk addition of war drums to the piano and droning in the background. The drums help propel the introduction of the string ensemble far more than they could achieve on their own, however, it is another short piece. ‘White Phosphorus Angels’ is reminiscent of the opening track; to the point of thinking you had pressed ‘restart album’ or something to that degree. Like the first track, it’s nice, but it becomes more interesting at about the 2/3rds mark, when the piano exits, and is replaced with an assortment of samples, that almost seem to be calling out in pain. Distorted martial drumming enters the scene again, and makes an end to this overall weird track.

‘The Moth Screamed Harvest’ opens with quite a different tone to the rest of the album. It starts with sharp noises, as someone plucks quickly at a mandolin. In the back there is a ever foreboding drone, and these never let up. It really is a nice contrast to the rest of the album which was devoted to dulled tones and noises. ‘Saturniidae’ offers up another ominous, violent piece. Heavy drums and gongs, a well as layers of random samples create some interesting and sometimes creepy depth before there is another attack of white noise. Geissler tries to fit as much destruction into the small time period before it all suddenly cuts out… And we are left with the ‘aftermath’, a destroyed world if you will, with semblances of the previous destruction floating around the place, and the only thing remaining is the quiet and dulled notes of a key stroke.

‘Cambodia (Piano Duet)’ Brings in some new instrumentation, with some light xylophone work, and the reintroduction of gongs and various such cymbals as well as some distorted vocals to make another amazing piece… The repetitive nature of the first half helps continue the dark tone of the album, despite the higher notes. However, there is a feeling of ‘light breaking through the clouds’ with the heavenly vocals, despite being impossible to hear clearly. As more beautiful tonal and keyboard work come into play, the xylophone picks up its pace until I cuts out, leaving only the light distorted background to surround the senses.

‘Exorcism For Cello And Malaria’ offers up chaos once again, as various sounds and instruments fight for supremacy over one another. They all slowly leave until only a few remain, along with the hostile background tone. This track sets the fastest pace of the album so far, and it does remind me of the ‘idea’ of an exorcism… Chaos, noise, struggle for power, raw emotion. A similar distortion is left to that at the end of ‘Cambodia’. However, rather than calming it remains indifferent and harmful rather than optimistic.

‘The Trenches Choir’ returns to neoclassical form, with more depth. For much of it is simply a pure neoclassical form, until its broken up by screeches of noise and other such electronic samples. This continues until the piano is overpowered by the distorted samples, and only they remain in their vicious glory. The track is the longest on the album, and feels unnecessarily so, but it still has some quality piano playing. ‘Ode To Faithful Kataklysm’ is a string piece until overtaken by distorted piano playing and distorted electronics. Again, its nothing particularly new to the album, however at only 2 and a half minutes, it doesn’t feel as forced as others.

The final track, ‘End Theme’ is a simple piano piece pure to neoclassical form.

Fog Dance, My Moth Kingdom definitely was an interesting lesson. It isn’t particularly revolutionary, and doesn’t do things the best in its genre but was worth the go through… The ideas it plays on, chaos, darkness, good, evil, destruction and beauty are all fascinatingly pursued, even if it was just a personal interpretation. At times it winded on, and struggled to hold its own weight, but it persevered. Cambodia and Saturniidae are definitely the highlight tracks.

TOTAL SCORE

6.8/10

– Prelude For Piano and Malaria
- Saturniidae

03-30-2009, 07:02 AM	#6 (permalink)
Zarko Barely Disheveled Zombie Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Australia Posts: 1,196	Fog Dance, My Moth Kingdom – Worrytrain (2007) GENRES - Neoclassical, Ambient, Electronic, Noise Prelude For Piano And Malaria – 4:46 Celestial Police – 2:40 For Auschwitz – 3:13 Thundertrance Interlude – 3:05 Achtung, God – 3:18 Hospitalized – 1:49 Soviet Passages – 2:12 White Phosphorus Angels – 6:19 The Moth Screamed Harvest – 2:43 Saturniidae – 5:12 Cambodia (Piano Duet) – 3:45 Exorcism For Cello And Malaria – 6:54 The Trenches Choir – 8:47 Ode To Faithful Kataklysm – 2:37 End Theme – 1:48 Worrytrain is a fairly new find for me… The man behind the name, Joshua Neil Geissler, offers an experimental mix between neoclassical music, minimalism, electronics and sometimes just pure noise. Nonetheless, Fog Dance is an interesting experience. Sometimes it feels generic, yet still beautiful, and as soon as that feeling comes, it can be overtaken by a simple ‘What the ** was this bloke thinking?’ The most common instruments through the album are piano and violin, and the result is an album worth checking out. The album opens with ‘Prelude for Piano and Malaria’ which is a haunting and echoing piece performed primarily via piano. The level of resonance creates an interesting depth. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but during production it seems the actual pitch of the song was lowered, creating a thick and distorted sound rather than a clean and sharp piano key strike. As the song progresses the echoing starts to layer upon itself, creating some fascinating tones. ‘Celestial Piece’ builds on the piano work, which is a bit cleaner, with the introduction of a string ensemble. The dark tone is still present, and comes to the fore when the repetitive string pieces are interrupted by some wind instrument of some type. ‘For Auschwitz’ is a slow and sombre piece primarily made up of strings and piano work. It instills a sentiment of menace and sadness. Whilst it is sort of a ‘generic’ piece of neoclassical work, it is nonetheless a nice piece. The strings and piano work well in unison and it is simply an enjoyable construct. ‘Thundertrance Interlude’ heralds the introduction of the electronics and noise to the album. At the beginning it is a random assortment of single notes being played on various instruments, animal noises and other such things to boggle the mind. Then it is an attack of pure white noise changed across various tones and levels. 5/6ths of the song is this altered white noise. As quickly as it comes, the heavy electronics exit the scene. However, there are still prevailing elements throughout the album, rather than pure neoclassical music. ‘Achtung, God’ begins as a normal, well done, neoclassical piece, however now the backing at various places is made primarily of synth. This becomes more prominent as heavier beats start overpowering the strings and keyboard. The menace that was prevalent in past pieces has now picked up its pace. The addition really does turn the album around from a boring, generic neoclassical album to something with a bit more flavour, and this is the real beginning of the album for me. ‘Hospitalised’ remind me of music in hospitals in movies or video games… The constant ‘calming’ influence, however it is surrounded with a rather large cloud of fear and worry. The piece seems altered purely to assist in creating this effect. It’s only a short piece, but it is quite wonderful in my opinion. ‘Soviet Passages’ is a piece with a bit more oomph in it, created by the martial folk addition of war drums to the piano and droning in the background. The drums help propel the introduction of the string ensemble far more than they could achieve on their own, however, it is another short piece. ‘White Phosphorus Angels’ is reminiscent of the opening track; to the point of thinking you had pressed ‘restart album’ or something to that degree. Like the first track, it’s nice, but it becomes more interesting at about the 2/3rds mark, when the piano exits, and is replaced with an assortment of samples, that almost seem to be calling out in pain. Distorted martial drumming enters the scene again, and makes an end to this overall weird track. ‘The Moth Screamed Harvest’ opens with quite a different tone to the rest of the album. It starts with sharp noises, as someone plucks quickly at a mandolin. In the back there is a ever foreboding drone, and these never let up. It really is a nice contrast to the rest of the album which was devoted to dulled tones and noises. ‘Saturniidae’ offers up another ominous, violent piece. Heavy drums and gongs, a well as layers of random samples create some interesting and sometimes creepy depth before there is another attack of white noise. Geissler tries to fit as much destruction into the small time period before it all suddenly cuts out… And we are left with the ‘aftermath’, a destroyed world if you will, with semblances of the previous destruction floating around the place, and the only thing remaining is the quiet and dulled notes of a key stroke. ‘Cambodia (Piano Duet)’ Brings in some new instrumentation, with some light xylophone work, and the reintroduction of gongs and various such cymbals as well as some distorted vocals to make another amazing piece… The repetitive nature of the first half helps continue the dark tone of the album, despite the higher notes. However, there is a feeling of ‘light breaking through the clouds’ with the heavenly vocals, despite being impossible to hear clearly. As more beautiful tonal and keyboard work come into play, the xylophone picks up its pace until I cuts out, leaving only the light distorted background to surround the senses. ‘Exorcism For Cello And Malaria’ offers up chaos once again, as various sounds and instruments fight for supremacy over one another. They all slowly leave until only a few remain, along with the hostile background tone. This track sets the fastest pace of the album so far, and it does remind me of the ‘idea’ of an exorcism… Chaos, noise, struggle for power, raw emotion. A similar distortion is left to that at the end of ‘Cambodia’. However, rather than calming it remains indifferent and harmful rather than optimistic. ‘The Trenches Choir’ returns to neoclassical form, with more depth. For much of it is simply a pure neoclassical form, until its broken up by screeches of noise and other such electronic samples. This continues until the piano is overpowered by the distorted samples, and only they remain in their vicious glory. The track is the longest on the album, and feels unnecessarily so, but it still has some quality piano playing. ‘Ode To Faithful Kataklysm’ is a string piece until overtaken by distorted piano playing and distorted electronics. Again, its nothing particularly new to the album, however at only 2 and a half minutes, it doesn’t feel as forced as others. The final track, ‘End Theme’ is a simple piano piece pure to neoclassical form. Fog Dance, My Moth Kingdom definitely was an interesting lesson. It isn’t particularly revolutionary, and doesn’t do things the best in its genre but was worth the go through… The ideas it plays on, chaos, darkness, good, evil, destruction and beauty are all fascinatingly pursued, even if it was just a personal interpretation. At times it winded on, and struggled to hold its own weight, but it persevered. Cambodia and Saturniidae are definitely the highlight tracks. TOTAL SCORE 6.8/10** – Prelude For Piano and Malaria - Saturniidae Last edited by Zarko; 04-14-2009 at 02:23 AM.