Tonik's Lab

Steven Smith  R. - Olive

Details

Format: Vinyl
Label: SOFT ABUSE
Rel. Date: 04/19/2024
UPC: 795154146031

Olive
Artist: Steven Smith R.
Format: Vinyl
New: Not in stock
Wish

Formats and Editions

DISC: 1

1. Track 1
2. Marshland Study
3. Track 3
4. The Magpie
5. Track 5
6. On the Trellis
7. Track 7
8. With Cypresses
9. Track 9
10. Passing Winter
11. Track 11
12. Across the Boulevard
13. Track 13
14. Olive
15. Track 15
16. Parlor Fields
17. Track 17
18. Trees at North Branch
19. 1
20. Roadmenders

More Info:

Steven R. Smith is a wildly consistent and self-sufficient auteur making epic music far beyond his monk-like solo recording practices. On Olive, one gets more of Steven R. Smith's singular vision and musicianship, this time filtered through ensemble arrangement largely performed by others-an approach he's explored in recent years. A micro-orchestra of horn and woodwind players was enlisted, as well as other collaborators including Kate Wright (Movietone, 1000 Dawns) and Yvonne Sone. The stunning results call to mind Mark Hollis' eponymous solo LP and Gerald Busby's masterful 3 Women score, not only in terms of sonics or tone, but also in the use of space. Smith has explored many angles to soundtrack-like mood music, but there is a satisfying dark rock element to even his more refined chamber pieces. Smith's dusky post-punk signature, borrowed from Australian artists such as Rowland S. Howard and Crime & the City Solution, synthesizes with the mannered arrangements to push his familiar, evocative sound into new spaces.
        
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