by: Zero Sharp
Before starting this review, I should probably admit that I have a quite the soft-spot in my heart of hearts for both pipe organs and good conceptual ideas. For me, then, the new album by [the user], the same [the user] who brought a classical style symphony made of dot matrix printer sounds, "Abandon," is something from which dreams are made. The album is a composition for an instrument dubbed "the Silophone," a series of 88 giant empty cylinders which make up the abandoned Silo #5 grain elevator in the Port of Montreal's Quai des Ecluses. The grain elevator was transformed by placing contact microphones and speakers in the cylinders to create feedback loops to make the buildings resonate, or sing, much like a pipe organ. The results are beautiful resonant sounds, lasting up to 20 to 30 seconds. That having been said, the album is, of course, a step away from this old elevator telling of it's life, and it's the music that sells the album. Let me assure you that the patterning or resonance and notes is beautiful, though I would not recommend this recording to anyone looking for even close to instant gratification. More than being developing melodies, the composition feels more like drones and minimal tones worked over each other. As a piece, it flows well, sometimes staying at low bass rumbles where other times treble tones filter in slowly to build and grab the attention of the listener. It's masterfully done, but I would only really recommend it to people into very minimal drones, sounds, and experimental music. As a story told by a building that has seen many years, it comes out both haunting and beautiful.
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