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rotations
CD Album 2007 | Silber 063 10 tracks, 61 minutes $12 ($18 international, $5 download (256kbps, ~109 megs)) track listing: Context. Where?, Fireside, It's Easy To Be Miserable, Negative Pole, Celestial Motion, Rotations, Oratory Clout, Sleepy Crayfish, Windows, Never Constant : More info |
"It´s Easy To Be Miserable",
one of the track titles of this album claims quite truthfully, so why not
exert yourself and be happy instead? On his debut album, Micheal Walton
from Durham in the UK proves to be a joyful, if restrained, guitar-teaser,
stroking and molding it with delay pedals and other electric acoutrements,
looping, seeking his own blissful ambience.
The soaring opener is a thermal-borne
survey of the wonders of the sunlit landscape below. Watson strives for
clarity of sound, as opposed to many colleagues who prize the overwhelming
swarm of buzz and distortion. Some of these ten tracks, ranging from three
to twelve minutes, are linear and narrative, others more static and ambient.
There is a great variety of texture and permutation, though the mood remains
constantly uplifting; even several forays into relative darkness, like
"Negative Pole", eventually emerge into the light. The album ends with
a beatific coda, promising to be "Never Constant".
This is thoughtful introversion that
travels well, because it is based on the expression of a fellow human being´s
"within".
~ Stephen Fruitman, Sonomu
MWVM consists of Michael Walton, a
one-man sonic machine hailing from Ireland’s County Durham. Beginning around
1996, Michael started honing his craft, writing music and exploring his
musical boundaries and expanding his creativity. In 2005 Walton evolved
into MWVM. After recording a couple demo EPs and piquing the interest of
some labels who knew good music when they heard it, Walton settled with
an independent label in Raleigh, North Carolina: Silber Records, the label
that has just released his debut full-length CD, entitled Rotations.
When listening to this CD one gets
a sense of some of his influences such as Brian Eno’s ambient works (i.e.,
Music for Airports), Moebius, Can and Henry Cow: pioneering prog-rock/ambient
bands and artists. More contemporary influences could be Tortoise, Remora
and Aphex Twin, but without the freneticism of the latter. But make no
mistake, MWVM has a unique sound, it is all-Michael Walton; it’s neither
derivative nor a “been-there-done-that” disc. MWVM’s work comes off as
a man who is a loner, an introverted guy; one who spends his free-time
coming up with drifting, lilting, beautiful soundscapes that are apparent
on Rotations.
This CD is defined by its swirling,
deeply-textured harmonies that use guitar synthesizers and keyboards and
which is devoid of percussion; some examples of this includes “Celestial
Motion”, “Oratory Clout” and the opening cut, “Context, Where?”, a song
whose title blithely sizes up the mood of the rest of the CD. Rotations
is the type of disc that one puts on and listens to straight through –
no “singles” here, just the perfect type of atmospheric music, an environmental
backdrop that is hypnotic, mesmerizing and the perfect lullaby for an overworked,
stressed out life.
Don’t expect any dance music or pop
stuff on this CD. Rotations is the quintessential ambient classic-to-be;
helpful for peaceful entrancement or meditation. It will help you clear
your mind of all the racing thoughts and noise in your head.
~ Blond Adonis, Heathen Harvest
The field of guitar atmospherics, of
treated tones and delay-drizzled drones, has become increasingly populous.
There’s a lineage here traceable from Fripp&Eno's early 70s proto-ambience
through Durutti's echoplex-doodlings to MBV's shoegaze-haze at either end
of the 80s. But it's the Kranky clan whose legacy has most fuelled the
current crop, among whom find mwvm. Rotations, the debut full-length from
mwvm, County Durham-based guitar manipulator Michael Walton, adds itself
to the recent build-up of releases from relative tyros like Chris Herbert,
Apalusa, and Gareth Hardwick. Artists like these evidence a thriving UK
drone-ambient scene to rival that of our transatlantic brethren - the Stars
of the Lids, the Windy & Carls, and other Kranky types.
“Context. Where?” opens in downbeat
post-rock progressions laced with blithe, almost pastoral backwoods slide/pedal
steel, before withdrawing to a pensive “Fireside” – a series of upswells
from and fall-aways into tremulous space. “It’s Easy to be Miserable” shifts
sonic paradigm to more ominous drone territory, touching the void evoked
by deeper ambient-spacers like Robert Rich, or the post-industrialisms
of Malignant and Cyclic Law, summoning up a mighty racket before it’s sucked
into a vacuum. "Negative Pole" crawls out from inky depths, arcing towards
light in the same kind of languorous balletics as SotL (hello, again).
The soundfield fizzes with the fuzz’n’buzz of electrified steel vibrations,
layers of shimmering metallics and tremeloed organ-like sustain cycling
across tracks like "Celestial Motions". Evidently mwvm, like his keynote
influence, is made happy by tape hiss, or rather its simulacra - electronic
static and tuned air, which pervades these tableaux. The title track hoves
into view with the clearest of nods to early Kranky, further embellished
by some keening Polmo Polpo-esque lap steel. The epic "Oratory Clout" spools
out a stately theme that betrays its origins as the love child of early
Pan•American and GYBE!, Walton summoning mounting waves of glacial breakers
to wash over chilly hibernal tundras, while “Sleepy Crayfish” – with nice
use of discreet field recordings – gazes beatifically once more at those
Stars. “Windows” is an effective contrast to the preceding more elaborated
arrangements, exploring the timbral aspects of decay and delay vapour trails,
accentuating the zinging resonance of a single tone’s aperture and closure
through effects and exponential reverberation. There's a certain unself-conscious
compositional craft at work here that allows pieces to breathe as if in
meditative mode (though not precluding the triumphal swell or the odd grandiose
upsurge), whilst insisting they not sprawl into dronal endlessnessism.
Case in point the gorgeous lyrical ebb and flow of “Never Constant” - barely
3 minutes of such sad-happy winsomeness you forget its thralldom to forebears
- just folding you in to float with its lulling layers of lilt. A perfect
near-happy ending without being inauthentic to the affective parameters
of the set's moody-eerie wistful-melancholic clines.
In terms of experimentalism, mwvm
is a less Out-There operator than other celebrated guitar-toting drone-basers
like Fennesz, Oren Ambarchi, and Machinefabriek. These wilder frontiersmen
tend to allow the listener the sugar-rush of romanticist dynamics (ebb-flow,
surge-relent) only as coating to a pill of post-digital detritus and aleatory
abrasivity, making it a spiky sweet to swallow. In contrast, Rotations,
for all its alterations of sonorous state, has an appealing fidelity, cleaving
to the sounding essence of electric guitar qua guitar, while still remaining
open to the accidental harmonics and timbre-blurring arising from the felicitous
encounter between fret-and-fingerboard, effect-mediated amplification,
and post-performance recording archaeology.
~ Alan Lockett, furthernoise.org
mwvm is a solo project form British
guitarist/electronic musician Michael Walton. Rotations is his debut CD.
Throughout the album Walton takes basic themes and gradually builds on
them, exploring all their possibilities. Multiple guitar elements, both
crisply melodic and soundscape ambient, come together to create mood building
voyages that are like sonic brushstrokes on a cosmically pastoral aural
landscape. The music is completely free in its exploration, yet always
struck me as having a sense of direction. It's both abstract and well defined
in its structure. Space ambient fans will find much to enjoy here. Some
of it brought to mind a blend of Eno and early Tangerine Dream. Other parts
are like minimalist Pink Floyd. We've got massive earth shattering drones.
But the music is for the most part thoughtful, calm, and highly image inducing.
Much of this would make excellent film soundtrack music. The CD includes
10 tracks, though each transitions smoothly into the next. That's a plus
for me because I like to settle in and surrender my thoughts to music like
this, and the continuity makes for a fuller album experience.
~ Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations
With icy blasts of condensation, Context.
Where? has been charging across the stereo field of my hifi for tha past
few days. Michael Walton has been here before under his mwvm moniker, drawing
long glissando drones from his customized guitar-based effects set-up.
Last year's debut self-titled EP opened a door to a more interesting breed
of guitar instrumental. Taking his lead from luminaries such as Adam Wiltzie
and Brian McBride (both collectively and individually), Walton runs with
these ideas and electrifies them. This particular track has been available
on the mwvm myspace page for a little bit, but released from the myspace
player it has been buffed and polished until it shines.
Too often, so-called drone ambient
artists ignore the grand romantic sweep in favor of micro-dynamics, the
random scratch of a radio dial, the bluster of white noise feedback, but
Walton steers a refreshingly different course whereby distinct guitar resonances
are built, layer upon layer, frequency band upon frequency band creating
distinct and delicate melodies. Never once relying to cliché (of
course completely unlike this reviewer), his first full-length release,
Rotations, is set for release on September 25th by Silber Records.
This is music to be listened to and,
as such, to categorize this as ambient is dangerous. This album cannot
be ignored and therefore immediately breaks Eno's first law of ambient.
Nevertheless, it drifts with intent, at first lulling the listener then
pummeling them with sound. There have always been albums that have incited
listeners to play them loud. Here we have one that really does need it.
To listen to it quietly removes its sheer physicality.
Rather than the occasionally polite
but floating drone of William Basinski, mwvm slams into the target. You
don't float with Rotations, you drown in it, twisting and writhing. The
immediacy of each melodic and harmonic theme enveloping the listener within
each track and the album as a whole.
mwvm - Context. Where? MP3 from Rotations
(Silber Records, 2007)
~ echo, D!M
style: shadowy minimal ambient
similar: other silber artists, NPR's
Hearts of Space, 2001: a Space Odyssey
rating: **** If you haven't yet experienced
what a guitar can do outside the conventional thinking box, rotations is
a place to begin. UK artist mwvm plays with guitars that produce otherworldly
ambient textures that you could swear are computer electronics and synth.
The UK artist has worked with guitar effects since the mid-90s and finally
releases this debut. Goody, there is much to explore here. The coolest
thing about rotations is that the tracks blend together seamlessly. Mind
expanding for sure.
~ Kenyon Hopkin, Advance Copy
Drone ambient is, unfortunately, appealing
only to a very small sliver of people. The basic element of drone
compositions is a swelling and ebbing core of music that is wrapped by
filaments of other, smaller sounds. This produces several elemental
ideas that replicate the outer darkness of space or an internal loneliness.
Whatever metaphor you choose, drone music can effectively provide a center
to be built around.
On Rotations, the ambient drone album
from Silber’s UK-based artist, mwvm, better known as Michael Walton, there
are 10 tracks of lengthy (a good thing) pieces of guitar manipulations
and repetitions produced in an isolationist environment. In so doing,
the eeriness and desolation of being alone reveals itself through the music.
This can be a powerful thing if drunk in moments of self-introspection.
All of Rotations is intriguing if
you pursue music in many forms, drone ambient being one of them.
There are few artists producing this type of melody and harmonics, much
as there were few artists dabbling in electronic manipulations back in
the late ‘70s. But those that perfected the genre ruled it.
Michael Walton’s mwvm is one of those
pioneers, along with POD and Fear Falls Burning (vidna obmana side project),
that can evolve with the music they produce in all of its industrialized,
internalized, and spacey madness. Recommended for the adventurous.
~ Matt Rowe, Music Tap
Rotations is British, Durham based
guitarist Michael Walton's first album, and it's a thing of beauty for
sure. Superficially just another set of post-Frippertronics Ambient drift,
Rotations only occasionally gets bogged down in a New age mire, which is
a rarity in this field. Walton is comfortable letting his infinitely layered
drones clash timbrally and tonally, resulting in some tensely ambiguous
passages. The bulk of the album is certainly pastoral, and the slide guitar
embellishments strongly recall Eno's slightly sickly Apollo, but there's
a caustic tang to Mwvm's sound that cuts through the dreaminess. Walton's
work is ever static: as its various strata shift in and out of phase, new
patterns emerge and new harmonic information is magically conjured.
~ The Wire
Michael Walton was destined to be on
a label like Silber. Creating his ambient drone soundscapes through guitar
manipulation and delay pedals (a la Remora) the County Durham inhabitant
has found himself a growing popularity despite his isolationist mode of
working and a sound that practically acts as a calling card for a label
interested greatly in drone and experimental ambience (among other things).
So in the month that Sigor Ros release
their latest album, fans of Walton, (alias MWVM) will find themselves gorged
on post rock with the imminent release of his first full length; Rotations.
Hearing ‘Context . Where?’ for the
first time you’d be forgiven in thinking that the sounds were produced
by keyboards and even with this prior knowledge I still find myself doubting
that the harmonious and peaceful sound was created entirely from guitar
manipulation. Regardless of the technical aspect, the track establishes
Walton’s prowess straight away, creating a sound that, from a solo artist,
is remarkably structured, sounding more like an entire group had a part
in its formation.
Uniquely and refreshingly, Walton
also shows change in direction from track to track with ‘Fireside’ being
an altogether more pensive piece that uses effectively the low drone of
a singular note repeated throughout the composition as with ‘It’s Easy
to be Miserable’ in which Walton changes the emotive feeling again, this
time allowing the sound to conjure more of an ominous tone with distant
industrious noises and sounds that replicate themselves while the rumbling
bass increases in volume at slow but slightly disquieting speed.
It’s not all doom and gloom however,
as previously mentioned ‘Context. Where?’ opens the album on a lighter
note and there are others too within the mix, Walton providing a balanced
ambient work that neglects neither one emotion nor the other.
‘Celestial Motions’ for instance,
with its waves of guitar echo, warped to unrecognizable sound from such
an instrument, creates an atmosphere that is less definable than previous
tracks, creating a sort of spiritual air about itself with hypnotic loops
and resonating repetitions of sound combing to compose a well woven soundscape.
As well documented in previous reviews
of drone artists it is perhaps not the mastery of the instruments used
in question, but what effect the music has upon the listener. And while
most if not all ambient/drone artists may sail down similar musical outcomes,
the subtleties in difference from one artist to the next is just as intriguing
as the sounds they create themselves. With the track ‘Oratory Clout’ for
example, the isolation of Walton when recording the album is captured precisely
via its minimalist opening of a solitary sound which is repeated for some
time, allowing ever so slightly the faintest hint of more “identifiable”
guitar work to be layered over the top.
With post rock on such a wave of popularity
at the minute it would be a shame for a project such as Walton’s MWVM to
go overlooked, if not for its achievement as a solo project then simply
for being a slice of great ambient music in general.
~ Michael Byrne, Left Hip
Post-rock ambient has its place; it’s
called "background." Post-rock tends to be far too weird for the casual
listener, but if you’re one of the select few that dig droned-out minimalism
à la Brian Eno/Robert Fripp and Fear Falls Burning, you’re one of
the special ones that can hear the intricate and subtle musicality in the
genre affectionally known as "shoe-gazer."
Rotations is the first full-length
album by U.K. multi-instrumentalist Michael Walter working under the moniker
mwvm. It's an hour-long, ten-track journey through the post-rock sonicsphere:
An opus of single-note volume swells, synthed-out effects loops, and weird,
digital delay texturing. No melody, no drums, no apparent structure and
no lyrics--an aesthetic bitch-slap to the verse-chorus-verse blueprint
of pop-rock. It's abstract and unapologetic as hell.
The ten-minute opening track "Context.
Where?" introduces the recorded-in-a-cathedral vibe that fans of Arcade
Fire’s Neon Bible will find familiar. Lots of echoey organ washes and gothic
harmonic layering, from which the rest of the album flows like a stream
from a snowcapped mountain. By track four, "Negative Pole," the cathedral
vibe has transformed into more of an abducted-by-aliens texture, with lots
of low-end digital droning and Doppler-effect organ weaving in and out.
The album peaks in the twelve-minute
track "Oratory Clout;" the low alien-mothership synth hums like a swarm
of digital cicadas, until giving way to a clean David Gilmour-style guitar
vamp, which, if you hadn’t noticed already, exposes Walter’s undeniable
Meddle-era Pink Floyd influence. The sound of random drops of water in
the closer "Never Constant" marks where the sonic mountain stream ends;
if you’ve never heard a leaky faucet on psychedelics, it pretty much sounds
like this. Though Rotations isn’t anything experienced shoe-gazers haven’t
heard before, it’s still a solid full-length debut effort. But if you’re
not a shoe-gazer, forget about it.
~ Wayne Chinsang, Tastes Like Chicken
Only a year and a half after their
debut release, mwvm (aka Michael Walton) has already entered and settled
into a much colder territory. Taking a step forward, Rotations moves its
ten tracks on a single flowing journey through shivering layers of guitar
and fx coatings. While it may share elements with post rock, isolationism
and ambient musics, this is definitely of itself. Heightening this cold
atmosphere, the bleached out Saturn's rings-style artwork is the perfect
visual accompaniment to the excursion.
The majority of the tracks here favor
the abstract over the relaxing guitar-gone-ambient style of his peers.
This album stands out as a panacea to the remaining dependence on rock
that even the far left of post-rock still retains. It's only the opening
"Context. Where?" where memory-tugging melodies and brushstrokes of pedal
steel like playing come to the fore. The rise and lull of notes, and their
progressive coming together, sees guitar lines floating in alternating
layers like varicoloured liquids that won’t mix.
Circling itself, "Oratory Clout" adds
field recordings and dim electronics to layers of ringing, shivers running
alongside and through the notes. There are dark movements across the record,
whistling metallic glides and recurring vibrations of satellite paths.
The lost horn call sounds of "Negative Pole" are trapped in the air, cold
basilica echoes running through Rotations. This records perfect moment
though appears on the drowsily titled "Sleepy Crayfish," avoiding guitar
glories it goes instead for subtle currents. Gorgeously (and surprisingly,
for such a frozen release) capturing a warm underwater world without resorting
to anything other than lush emissions of sound, this is mwvm inspiring
the rest of the crowd to keep in the gentlest possible way.
~ Scott McKeating, Brainwashed
If you consider the recent slew of
releases from the likes of Gareth Hardwick, Adam W. Flynn and Chris Herbert
and add the work of MWVM to the equation, the UK finally seems to be gathering
an ambient scene together that could rival that of the US. British ambient
sounds have, for far too long, lived in the shadows of acts like Eluvium,
Stars of the Lid and other artists within the Kranky collective.
"Rotations" is the debut full-length
from MWVM, a project bearing the name of Durham based guitar experimentalist
Michael Walton. Recording ten movements in a self-induced, solitary environment,
Walton's music comes across like cavernous, monolithic noise, powerful
yet inherently graceful. Timeless melodies wash across degraded industrial
ambiance, pointing towards influences such as Labradford's seminal "Prazision"
LP and Wolfgang Voigt's grand, lulling passages under his GAS moniker.
Tracks like "Context Where?" use a
maze of guitar manipulations and sound imperfections. Progressing organically,
the subtle chord shifts represent the sounds of a slow-motion orchestra,
evolving sounds move through emotions of sorrow, optimism, hope and contemplation.
Beyond the intrusion of rhythm and
percussion and all the better for it, Walton builds gargantuan waves of
wall rattling sound, like Alexander Tucker's loop experiments only without
the hypnotic vocals. Amidst this beatless bliss of knot-like textures and
slow arpeggios, the listener will gradually succumb to each passage's gravity.
The underlying aggression and bubbling tension ensuring the paths chosen
by Walton are never predictable.
A number of tracks ("Negative Pole",
"It's Easy to Be Miserable", "Celestial Motion") are shrouded in transparent
industrial haze. The layers of drones and swell of guitar effects create
the swirling, dark fog of a distant ghostly planet. "Celestial Motion",
as the title may suggest, develops from such darker terrains, accumulating
sounds that resemble waves of Gregorian chanting.
Outwith such cold and sterile climates,
MWVM also constructs warm ambient/drone pieces, from the hopeful, angelic
strains of "Never Constant" to the Marsen Jules-like "Sleepy Crayfish".
But it is the epic "Oratory Clout" that truly defines Walton's style. Like
an extreme winter blizzard, the 12 minute long "...Clout" at first evokes
images of vast, ice-covered tundra's.
These cold and infecting sentiments
soon begin to subside with the introduction of an optimistic guitar chord
progression. Combining with filters of sound and field recordings of buried
voices, mwvm creates an impression of a weather-beaten traveler battling,
in his journey, against the extreme elements. The guitar purposefully plays
against the violent force of the evolving arctic haze.
It may be subtle and require a degree
of endurance from the listener, but ultimately "Rotations" rewards such
patience. mwvm has created a body of work that is beautiful, strange and
haunting.
~ Michael Henaghan, AngryApe
Drone/ambient project mwvm has got
a vibe that channels Stars of the Lid much of the time: It’s warm and slowly
shifting, and it gives the impression that the music delivered is more
a result of careful arrangement and composition than many other drone acts'.
At its best, the sound of Rotations
has got an effective organic facet to it. It’s no surprise that these moments
also coincide with the record’s strongest compositions. When mwvm goes
for the shimmering and melodic, it does its best work. Some of the tracks
on Rotations follow more of a lugubrious, near-dark ambient route. These
are also done very well, but the result is more of a barely moving plod
than an epic journey. Indeed, the music reaches its most effective, thick
and wondrous goal when the drones are allowed to hang in the air and reverberate.
mwvm will appeal to fans of Stars
of the Lid and Eluvium, although this project is not yet up to the level
of those other two giants’ best work. It still is a recommended album for
fans of those bands and of the melodic drone genre.
~ Roberto Martinelli, Maelstrom
You know the drill here: shimmery,
soft-focus ambient prettiness built from loops of processed guitar and
bathed in swaths of static. Rotations is an undeniably enjoyable listen,
but it doesn’t really offer anything new to my ears. mwvm has neither the
imagination of Fennesz or Keith Fullerton Whitman nor the sense of majesty
and melody of Stars of the Lid or Tim Hecker. And yet there’s nothing particularly
wrong with this release; it’s an adequate, meditative album, sufficiently
pretty and fairly unexciting. You could do a lot worse than listening to
this, but for the genre, you could do a whole lot better.
~ Jona Gerlach, Slugmag
‘Rotations’ is the debut album from
County Durham UK, based musician Michael Walton. Curiously I wonder what
the name means, since I’m assuming it’s an abbreviation for four words
with the first two being Michael Walton, but the vm, perhaps only Michael
could answer this question.
That little mystery aside, Rotations
is an album filled with sixty one minutes of ambient guitar work, with
absolutely no keyboards. I’m really enjoying this record because it sounds
a lot more melodic and less drony than most artists in this genre. Also
because most of the songs share common traits with the calmest & dreamiest
parts of post rock bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor or The Silver
Mt. Zion. Bands like Stars of the Lid, If Thousands, and Eluvium also seem
to come to mind as I listen to this charming record. The music is of course
very peaceful and leisurely paced, but even so at times the music does
get a little intense as displayed on ‘It’s Easy To Be Miserable’ when a
bit of harsh noise enters near the end. ‘Negative Pole’ is another example
where there is a buzzing sort of noise layered over the guitar drone, while
the rest of the time spent on this album is mostly a relaxing and beautiful
sounding journey.
Michael Walton has given us a record
that shares common characteristics with ambient, post rock, and even some
noisier moments, but it all gels together nicely for one enjoyable experience
I suggest you check out.
~ Joe Mlodic, Lunar Hypnosis
Rotations features the kind of classy,
odd ambient stuff that has made the Silber label a household name among
a small yet devoted group of people around the globe. mwvm (none of the
letters are capitalized) is the solo project created by Michael Walton
who resides in County Durham in the United Kingdom. Walton's music consists
of all-instrumental electronics...slow, methodical, and dreamy in nature.
The
guitar playing on this album is rather unusual in that it is very hard
to actually recognize the guitars. Much of this music is so soft and subtle...that
it is rather difficult to describe. This is the sort of music that is best
used to create odd, surreal moods in your living environment. Tired of
bopping around to the latest catchy pop band? Or have you found yourself
grinding your teeth away once too often after too many loud blasts of harsh
metal? If so take a chill pill...put on Rotations...and allow yourself
to float away on a serene cloud of mental fluidity. Wonderful sounding
rich stuff...far too peculiar for the casual listener. Recommended.
~ Babysue
Ouch, this is going to be a hard one.
Behind MWVM is one Micheal Walton from Durham, UK, and he started to play
music in 1996 and adopted the name MWVM in 2005. He plays a guitar and
effect pedals. His music can be classified as ambient music. When I played
this CD I kept thinking: Eno, Fripp, Fear Falls Burning, Hypnos, Stars
Of The Lid. Been there, done that, you know the drill. I could all to easily
slag this down as copycat # 2983, but actually I really like the music.
Nothing new under the ambient sun, but it's nice, it's entertaining, it's
atmospheric, it's beautiful. Music doesn't need to be per se new and innovative
in the Vital HQ, but it's nice if it is. If it isn't, fine too, and we
could simply enjoy the beauty of it and 'Rotations' is certainly a beautiful
album.
~ Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly
The field of electric guitar ambience
-- feedback and tones played, looped, treated, and more -- is now its own
well-established tradition, from the early experiments of Robert Fripp
and Brian Eno to any number of later drone artists. Michael Walton's formal
debut under the MWVM moniker is as a result familiar rather than something
strikingly new, but Rotations is nonetheless a lovely effort all around,
showing good skills in performing and arranging and signaling a promising
future. Notably, in an era of extremely clean home-recording possibilities,
Walton keeps the tape hiss in, much like Dave Pearce, a partial sonic forebear,
did with Flying Saucer Attack. "Context. Where?," the excellent opener,
captures that as well as Walton's knack for meditative but triumphant arrangements
-- if so many such compositions can feel like a warm sunrise, this feels
like an enveloping one. It makes further sense that the following song
would be called "Fireside," since again there's a sense of embracing comfort
in the high, slow swirl of tones -- there's little overtly dark-as-such
in Walton's work, no deep howling drones, but instead a chilled contemplation
that emphasizes serenity. "Celestial Motion," with its back-and-forth collage
touched with what sounds like a heavenly choir of ghosts, might be the
pinnacle of this part of the album, while "Windows" plays up a piercing
microsecond shriek as the swells rise and fall without disrupting the mood.
There's also some dry humor at play -- a brief, moodier number is called
"It's Easy to Be Miserable."
~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
Drone and minimalist acts are not the
easiest genres to listen to. With slow, entrancing waves of sound that
fade in and out as though they had surpassed the flow of time itself, most
drone is best appreciated with headphones on and plenty of time to kill.
mwvm’s debut album is no different, other than the fact that it seamlessly
blends the organic with the electronic. Whereas most drone and ambient
acts are quick to turn to computer generated sounds to produce their music,
mwvm’s debut Rotations is made entirely with a guitar and pedals. The result
is a natural, flowing sound that at times sounds electronically composed,
and is an experience worth diving into.
Rotations is particularly notable
because every song on it sounds as though it was composed with electronics.
Michael Walton, the sole musician behind this effort, is clearly experienced
in the use of delay pedals and various effects as he uses both to create
layered landscapes of sound that will pull the listener in and let them
drift among its various textures and melodies. Listening to many of the
songs on Rotations is similar to lying in the middle of a field and letting
the wind pass over you; it’s calming and will put you at peace.
Although some forms of drone focus
on haunting sounds, mwvm is more focused on melodic backdrops that repeat
and slowly change. Walton has created guitar sounds that often sound nothing
like a guitar, and could potentially fool some people into thinking otherwise.
But make no mistake, Rotations is an extremely minimalist album. This isn’t
an album to drive to or listen to casually; it demands your full and undivided
attention.
Minimalist artists may not be everyone’s
style, but if you’re able to appreciate the genre or have an open mind
then check out Rotations. It seamlessly makes the organic sound electronic
and provides ambient backdrops that stimulate without becoming boring.
Michael Walton has showcased a unique way of playing the guitar that is
both ambient and entrancing, and hopefully people will take notice of that.
~ Chris Dahlberg, Cosmos Gaming
Michael Walton is a UK-based electronic
musician that explores the sonic capabilities of a manipulated electric
guitar within the constructs of the ten gorgeous instrumental tracks here.
A seamlessly sublime series of deeply cool ambient sound fields. Excellent,
subtle, nuanced and dreamily transportational drone-based works.
~ George Parsons, Dream Magazine
Durham resident, Michael Walton is
mwvm (you’re on your own figuring what the “vm” stands for) and ‘Rotations’
is his debut full length release of minimalist guitarscapes in the classic
tradition of Remora, Aarktica, Windy & Carl and Stars of the Lid. The
nebulous, floating opener, ‘Context. Where?’ immediately establishes a
somewhat confusing, sensory deprivation tank atmosphere as the listener
searches for terra firma, perhaps wondering: “Is that a keyboard…guitar…synth…perhaps
a violin…? Walton’s work is all about harmonics…drones… you won’t find
any “songs” here in the traditional verse/chorus/verse structure. In fact,
the beauty of the music is that there is no structure to any of it, although
I’m sure Walton may argue that it’s all carefully “constructed” in the
Beefheartian sense. You most certainly will feel warmth enveloping you
as Walton’s guitars create a sense of returning to the womb, with the listener
perhaps subconsciously reliving the pre-birth period of floating in amniotic
fluid.
‘Fireside’ continues the soothing,
relaxing atmosphere. Imagine cuddling up beside it and letting its warmth
overtake you, like anesthesia slowly dissolving the mind into a state of
waking unconsciousness. But then there’s an ominous, industrial metallic
sheen razorblading across ‘It’s Easy To Be Miserable” that suggests this
track may not be the best track to listen to alone in the dark, coming
down from the previous evening’s revelries! The lack of space between tracks
also invites the listener to experience ‘Rotations’ as a single track,
with each of the ten titled segments representing a slight mood swing…
a variation on a central theme, whose meaning is open to the individual
interpretation of each listener. If I may suggest several: a representation
of the various stages of the psychedelic experience, a transitional passage
through different levels of R.E.M. sleep, or perhaps a musical treatise
on the fine line between the conscious and unconscious worlds. As such,
the album can almost serve as a scientific experiment. I’d love to have
a bunch of wires attached to me and be loaded down into one of those sensory
deprivation tanks that William Hurt inhabited in ‘Altered States’ and have
the album pumped in through headphones and then have the EEG/EKG patterns
my body emits under the influence of ‘Rotations’ evaluated. That’s not
to suggest by any means that you go home, drop a few roofies and spread
out on the couch and let ‘Rotations’ do its thing. But if you have been
suffering from bouts of insomnia, the soothing, ambient swashes of ‘Rotations’
ethereal guitar strains is guaranteed to lower your blood pressure a few
notches.
From the ebb and flow of the title
track and the backward phasing at the beginning of ‘Oratory Clout’ to the
Tangerine Dream-like soundtrack stylings of ‘Sleepy Crayfish,’ ‘Rotations’
does at times sound like a hearing test, but for contemplative navel-gazing,
I’ve not heard a better soundtrack all year. Highly recommended to snorecore
enthusiasts, aerobic cybernauts and fans of Eno’s ambient period. I could
also attest firsthand, that it’ll take the sting and aggravation out of
a long, gruelling trek to work. Just roll up the windows, crank this up,
and enter a completely relaxed dimension that’s an instant cure for road
rage. Just be sure to watch my rear end, not hers!
~ Jeff Penczak, Terrascope Online
MWVM is the musical project of Michael
Walton. This Englishman releases his debut “Rotations” on Silber Records
label. As early as 1996 did he begin with making music, but he took him
a full decade to create his first demos. The music press was very enthusiastic
about this work and Michael Wlaton played several festivals and was signed
to Silber Records. And now he brings us his first full-length. And it is
a beauty!
“Rotations” is a delightful album
that reminds us directly of the music of Godspeed You Black Emperor, Mogwai
and Fear Falls Burning: beautifully spun out guitar drones with a lot of
loops, reverbs and different melodies intertwined. Ten of these masterpieces
are pressed on this disc and they all come with appropriate song titles:
'Context.Where?', 'It's Easy To Be Miserable', 'Celestial Motion', 'Oratory
Clout' and 'Never Constant'. The album has no lesser parts and never loses
interest. The tension is coherently high, without getting irritating or
too worked-up. “Rotations” can be played in the background and a serene
mood is guaranteed. This album can also be played with full volume and
then you really can get pleasanlty lost in the repetitions and spherical
flow of the songs.
Some time ago a saw Fear Falls Burning
as an opening act before Cult Of Luna. This Belgian guy pleasantly surprised
me with showing the audience how a strong and convincing guitar drone is
created on stage. When I listen to “Rotations” - lying on my back strechted
out on my heavenly blue carpet with my cat purring on my chest – I'm getting
very curious as to how MWVM creates his tracks. It makes me look forward
to future releases and also to hopefully some live shows performed by this
County Durham based sound magician.
~ Ergo, Gothtronic
Michael Walton began experimenting
with minimal guitar soundscapes as early as 1996, recording his first material
as mwvm in 2005, spending the intervening years refining his sound and
recording technique. Walton, based in County Durham in the UK, bases his
music around a carefully produced mix of guitar manipulation, repetition,
delay and ambience recorded in isolation to give it his complete attention
and focus. By 2006 Walton was ready to take mwvm on the road and played
several UK festivals before releasing this, his debut album, on Silber
Records in 2007. Based around long meditative minimal tracks that swell,
undulate and roll along, slowly evolving and subtly mutating as they progress,
“Rotations” is a completely immersive experience that flows around you,
enveloping you in its radiance. Often minimal and sparse, Walton’s music
slowly and deliberate unfolds, telling its own story as its layers intertwine
and tumble over each other. “Rotations” also appears to be intensely personal,
whether it depicts certain moods or experiences there are times where the
mood is upbeat and optimistic, on album opener “Context. Where?” for example,
and others where it is dark and dejected such as the aptly titled “It’s
Easy to be Miserable”. On the basis of this album the time Walton spent
refining his skills would appear to be time well spent.
~ Paul Lloyd, Sideline
Rotations, the debut album of British
guitarist Michael Walton, comes in the wake of a number of similar releases
from other British guitarists. While MWVM doesn't necessarily stand out
as particularly special in the bunch, Rotations is a commendable release,
outstandingly pretty, if not especially remarkable in its sound or process,
and avoids some traps of more contemporary ambient music. The attention
to detail is superb for the most part, and much of the release retains
a healthy focus on a balance between the mechanical and the organic.
It seems apt that a track by MWVM
was added to a compilation by Australian label Dreamland Recordings, this
vein of experimental and ornamental guitar does evoke more Australian names
than others, Shoeb Ahmad's recent work for Gareth Hardwick's Low Point
label, in particular, coming to mind. Rotations continues in the Dreamland
vein, producing an exploratory suite of ambient works that are texturally
dense without being overwhelming, and adapt well to post-Eno ambient soundscapes
without appearing too unoriginal in approach.
Rather than attempting to provide
a direction, MWVM's Rotations merely suggests, as if staying in the same
place for the entire time. In a sense the opening track, "Context, Where?"
is a less than apt title for Michael Walton's approach, especially considering
the kind of thematic linking in of material throughout the piece, common
progressions throughout. Such a grounding seems to be less stagnation than
a foundation that is often missing, or relied on too heavily by other ambient
guitarists. That said, Rotations, at its heart, is a meandering ambient
muse. While this isn't necessarily a setback, the release cannot avoid
suffering the fate of many similar artists, the listening experience hampered.
On occasion, some tracks suffer from a hollowness, a lack of an exploration
outside one framework, but for the most part, Rotations avoids this, particularly
when Walton is more revealing of the original guitar sound, acting in a
similar vein to Gareth Hardwick's Sunday Afternoon lap steel release.
Rotations' fairly well executed
use of drone harmonics adds the kind of pitch-timbre blurring that is often
associated with more drone-based experimental guitarists such as Oren Ambarchi,
or even more aptly, French spectral composers Gerard Grisey and Tristan
Murail. Indeed, the more naked of Walton's approaches in representing the
guitar sound mirrors the kind of organic analysis of the harmonic series
that is usually obtained by musicians working in a far less processing-based
framework. In this way, Walton can be commended for the way the overall
sound on Rotations retains a human quality, vastly increasing how listenable
it is.
While not providing a particularly
new take on experimental ambient guitar-based music, Rotations is a decidedly
pleasant listening experience. Much of the release is steeped in the kind
of ambient guitar music that has been common of late, particularly in Britain,
but retains enough of a voice to make MWVM capable of standing with clarity
within this framework without descending too far into its own washes of
ambience.
~ Marcus Whale, The Silent Ballet
Avec ses morceaux au long cours, étirés
en drones bourdonnantes et ondulantes, Michael Walton appartient à
cette génération de musiciens ayant appris à tirer
partie de l’outil technologique, électronique et informatique, pour
trouver de nouvelles perspectives à la musique de guitares. Mais
à l’écoute d’un morceau comme "Fireside", on comprend vite
que ce Rotations, premier véritable album de son projet isolationniste
MWVM, trouve une résonance particulière. Derrière
ses nappes instrumentales, redorées de sonorités synthétiques
et de textures soignées, travaillées par divers effets de
pédales jusqu’à créer des climats à la fois
chauds, lumineux et inquiétants (la montée fascinante de
"It’s easy to be miserable"), on retrouve la patte de l’interprète,
ce feeling si particulier qui place Michael Walton dans la lignée
grave et mélodique d’un John Fahey par exemple. Certes, les arrangements
omniprésents ne transigent pas à travers ces couches de sédiments
harmoniques qui viennent gonfler chacune des pièces de flétrissures
digitales enveloppantes, mais on est très vite convaincu à
son écoute que même dépouillé, débarrassé
de ces scories granuleuses qui perturbent des morceaux comme "Negative
pole", ce Rotations n’aurait pas moindre allure. Mais inutile de se priver
de ses magnifiques effets de manche. En trouant l’espace de ce charivari
fusionnel, Michael Walton défie les lois de la gravitation et ce
Rotations peut décemment s’inscrire dans la lignée, quoique
encore plus méditatif, du And Their Refinement Of The Decline de
Stars Of The Lid.
~ Laurent Catala, Octopus
Se vi piacciono gli strumentali dei
Sigur Ros allora non perdetevi questo disco. Michael Walton ha costruito
nel suo album d'esordio “Rotations” un'ora di ambient chitarristica eterea
e sognante. La prima composizione dell'album, “Context.Where?” sembra proprio
uscita dal 'braket album' degli islandesi. Pochi minuti di glissando che
potrebbero durare un'eternità. più avanti nel disco l'elettronica
di mwmv si fa scura e dalla terza traccia, “It's Easy To Be Miserable”,
si naviga nelle acque territoriali della Silber, tra drones alla Aarktica
e geiser alla If Thousand. Ogni tanto emergono a fatica frammenti di luce
dal buio che avvolge ogni cosa (“Negative Pole”). E le chitarre prendono
a suonare come fossero generatori di segnali di chissà quale galassia
(“Celestial Motion”). Su “Rotations” aleggia ancora lo spettro dei Sigur
Ros: ma è uno spirito nero, tutt'altro che rassicurante.
~ Roberto Mandolini, Losing Today
Antalet varianter på den långsamt
svävande, dimbanksfärgade gitarrdronen besläktade med band
som Stars of the Lid, Eluvium och Aarktica tycks oändliga. Det kan
naturligtvis diskuteras hur många skivor man egentligen behöver
för att ackompanjera upplevelsen av att ligga utsträckt på
den oslagna sensommarängen och iaktta molnens rörelser, men när
resultatet är så pass meditativt som på ”Rotations” har
musiken ett själsligt hål att fylla. Ljudbilden är på
intet sätt unik med sina utdragna gitarrskulpturer och isolationistiska
minimalism men effekten är likväl imponerande.
mwvm är brittiske Michael Walton,
en artist som i mångt och mycket tidigare fokuserat på ett
elektroniskt uttryck. Kanske är det just därför gitarrtexturerna
lika ofta låter som keyboard och elektroniska effekter som sin egentliga
ljudkälla.
Jag tror det var Jon de Rosa (Aarktica)
som i en intervju sa att han egentligen inte ser meningen med att ägna
tid åt att skapa den perfekta dronen när det inte finns någon
möjlighet att skapa en dron vackrare än ljudet från havet,
ljudet av att befinna sig under vatten, en spelande gräshoppas, eller
något annat ljud från naturen. Det ligger naturligtvis något
i det men musiken på ”Rotations” gör ändå ett stämningsfullt
försök.
~ Mats Gustafson. Sound of Music
MWVM is het alter-ego van de Engelse
Michael Walton. Volgens de bijgeleverde persinformatie is deze man al sinds
1996 aan het rondrommelen met pedaaltjes. Na een aantal goed ontvangen
demo's is Rotations zijn debuutalbum op Silber Media. Muzikaal gezien zit
MWVM in de hoek van ambient. Het zou allemaal uit een gitaar moeten komen,
maar het klinkt alsof het ook keyboards of orgels zouden kunnen zijn.
Je raadt het al, dit is warme, veellagige
ambient, die af en toe eens wat kouder of donkerder klinkt (bijvoorbeeld
track 3 "It's Easy To Be Miserable"), maar echt dark ambient is het niet.
Nee, bij mij roept het hele andere associaties op. Het eerste nummer "Context.
Where?" doet me nog het meeste denken aan rustigere instrumentale stukken
van Sigur Rós(zo rond de tijd van ( )). Track 4 "Negative Pole"
roept weer heel sterke associaties op met nummers van het album "Autumn
Calls" van Tor Lundvall en Tony Wakeford. Ook Troum is een naam die bij
me opkomt, voornamelijk omdat ook zij veelal gitaarmanipulaties doen, maar
nee, Troum is vaak net een tikkeltje duisterder. De persinformatie noemt
dan weer Lycia.
Je leest het al, voldoende aanknopingspunten
dus. Zij die houden van ambient / gitaarmanipulaties / drones zullen dit
wel op prijs kunnen stellen. MWVM zet naar mijn mening geen uniek geluid
neer, het sterke gevoel van herkenning die sommige nummers bij me oproepen
is tekenend hiervoor. Als hij echt uit het huidige kader wil stappen, dan
raad ik hem aan er nog wat andere instrumentalisten bij te halen, dat zou
voor hele, hele interessante muziek kunnen maken. Ik prijs dit misschien
niet de hemel in, maar de artiest is wel bekwaam in wat hij doet en de
plaat luistert erg plezierig weg.
~ IkEcht
Ur?it? to také znáte.
Rozpracované v?ci si ob?as vyžádají dost ?asu, jež
se usadí a nabídnou definitivní tvar ?i ?ešení.
Angli?an Michael Walton z anglického hrabství Durham experimentoval
s klouzavým kytarovým zvukem, krabi?kami a pedály
již od roku 1996. I když sv?j nástroj nikdy nepov?sil na h?ebík,
jeho hudba pod p?ezdívkou mwvm se dostala k poslucha??m až v lo?ském
roce prost?ednictvím alba Rotations. M?že za to série poda?ených
promá??, jež spolu s nadšenými recenzemi p?ipravily živnou
p?du pro dlouhohrající prvotinu.
Rotations se veze na vzedmuté
vln? zájmu o drone kytarovou muziku. Michael ale ani náznakem
nekoketuje s metalovými prvky, ale ?ile se hlásí k
odkazu kapel Stars Of The Lid, Eluvium ?i Troum. To znamená ke skupinám,
které umí industriáln? p?itla?it na pilu, ale také
nekone?n? snít na blankytn? nadýchaných ambientních
polštá?cích. Úvodní Context. Where? možná
až p?íliš p?ipomene rukopis Ameri?an?, jež v polovin? prosince minulého
roku za?arovali Palác Akropolis. Michael jde v dalším pr?b?hu
CD již pouze svou cestou. Jednou hlukov? zaburácí (It's Easy
To Be Miserable), podruhé minimalisticky vrství na jednom
tónu (Celestial Motion) a jindy zase nepokryt? postrockov? zadrnká
do ambientního základu (Oratory Clout) po vzoru pozdních
Slowdive. Abych to zkrátil, deska je pro m? velkým p?ekvapením
a projekt mwvm má potenciál najít si své místo
na p?epln?né slow-kytarové scén?.
~ Pavel Zelinka, Freemusic.cz