SMM: Context is the first release in Ghostly International's new yearly compilation series of evocative, exploratory music. In 2004, Ghostly International introduced SMM, an unknown acronym used to evaporate the already-unspooling musical boundaries between classical minimalism, electronic and drone composition, film soundtracks, and fragile imaginary landscapes. SMM: Context features a hand-picked selection of some of the world’s finest musicians from Poland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, North America and the UK who traffic in SMM's slow-moving, texture-focused compositions, simple in instrumentation, but infinitely complex in execution.
Svarte Greiner's "Halves" creates a David Lynch-ian dreamscape out of slowly undulating drones and distant creaks and scratches. Wire magazine favorite Leyland Kirby contributes "Polaroid", a wide-open vista of barely plucked nylon strings and deep synthesizer swells. Guitar-and-turntables duo The Fun Years patiently fold loops and spy-guitar noodles into "Cornelia Amygdaloid", a patient, minimalist take on psychedelia. Rafael Anton Irisarri (aka The Sight Below , the compilation's lone Ghostly artist) tips his hat to "furniture music" pioneer Erik Satie in "Moments Descend on My Windowpane", a soulful piano-and-noise meditation. Context closes with Peter Broderick’s “Pause”, a time-stopping slice of acoustic-guitar melancholia.
The songs on SMM: Context can’t be categorized. They do their work in a multitude of ways, seeming to change depending on when and how they’re listened to, providing a backdrop for life's small movies, or--if you're not into the whole "ambient as life soundtrack" thing--acting as their own context, existing simply as elegant, heartbreakingly beautiful music.
ARTIST: Various Artists
ALBUM TITLE: SMM: Context
CATALOG NUMBER: GI-133
LABEL: Ghostly International / SMM
FORMAT: Limited CD / Limited 2xLP / Digital
01. Goldmund – "Motion"
02. Leyland Kirby – "Polaroid"
03. Svarte Greiner – "Halves"
04. Christina Vantzou – "11 Generations Of My Fathers"
05. Jacaszek – "Elegia"
06. The Fun Years – "Cornelia Amygdaloid"
07. Manual – "Three Parts"
08. Aidan Baker – "Substantiated"
09. Rafael Anton Irisarri – "Moments Descend On My Windowpane"
10. Kyle Bobby Dunn – "Runge’s Last Stand"
11. Peter Broderick – "Pause"
Read More
