Nice’n’Sleazy, 6 December
Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. Often “peaceful” sounding and lacking composition, beat, and/or structured melody, ambient music uses textural layers of sound that can reward both passive and active listening, and encourage a sense of calm or contemplation.
And with that description in mind, we headed to Nice’n’Sleazy’s to witness Marconi Union deliver a two-part set that was equal parts peaceful and invigorating.
Two men, Duncan Meadows sat behind keyboards, Jamie Crossley with his guitar swung tightly around his neck sitting behind a table filled with an array of electronic gizmos, creating soundscapes that draw you into a world of musical simplicity, building ‘songs’ that are slow of tempo but rich in quality.
Comparisons with Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream and Boards of Canada can be easily made, yet there is something unique about the vibe they are able to create within the darkened basement of the venue.
The first half of the set is a compendium of work prior to the release of #TheFearOfNeverLanding which is played in full after a short rest-bite. A reminder that both musicians have been around the block so to speak and in 2011 were featured in Time magazine’s list of Inventors of the Year for recording “Weightless“, describing it as “the world’s most relaxing song”.
Watching up close and personal, neither musician waivered from the very calm atmosphere they were creating for the audience throughout the evening. While Jamie Crossley would nod and say thank you in appreciation of the warm applause that greeted the end of each track delivered there was little other interaction to interrupt the flow of the music.
As our eclectic #AtoZMusicalTour continues, I think I can safely say that this was the perfect introduction to music that reaches parts of the musical body that few other genres have hit so far.
