Aidan Baker has a knack for soft-tone, soft-focus, textured and subtly emotive instrumental works. He’s also rather prolific. The four thematically-linked longform pieces featured on this release (originally released as a three-tracker in 2006), here re-released as a double LP and augmented with a live version of the title track) are representative, and as such, will be sure to please those already au fait with his work. For others, it’s probably as good a starting point as any, being slightly less challenging and significantly shorter than his recent double-disc opus ‘Half Lives’.
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Soft, rippling sounds diffuse over gentle, shuffling percussion that’s barely there on the title track, and the 20 minute running time simply floats by as if a dream. ‘When Sailors Die’ is more overtly rhythmic, building drama and slow-burning tension and the hypnotic post-rock of ‘Davey Jones’ Locker’ is sombre and insistent. Ambient / drone / space-rock at its best.
Aidan Baker Online
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