Plinth Reviews

VITAL WEEKLY REVIEW 
 
PLINTH - ALBATROSS (CD by Deadslackring)

      RICHARD MOULT - ETHE (CD by Deadslackring)

      UNITED BIBLE STUDIES - THE SHORE THAT FEARS THE SEA (CD by Deadslackring)

      Three examples of atmospheric music. 'Albatross' is the third album by

      Plinth, the band around Michael Tanner (guitars, harmonium, bowed

      dulcimer), with the help of Aine O'Dwyer (harp), Richard Moult (piano) and

      Nick Palmer (piano on one track). Albatross? Fleetwood Mac? Yes, that

      albatross is at work here. I love that old Fleetwood Mac song (well, all

      Fleetwood Mac to be honest) and the simple reduction of guitars in that

      song is the basis of this whole album. Slow music, in which the guitar

      plays the main part, and the other instruments are used sparsely in the

      pieces. The desolate feeling of the original lives on, much more extended,

      in these five pieces. Great atmospheric music. The lonesome road, the

      empty desert (with one albatross in the sky), a starry night: all those

      cliche images appears when I hear this. Maybe the music is a cliche too,

      but let's not care about that. Its just great late night music.

NORMAN RECORDS 

This record left our Phil feeling happy.

      Yo... we got a bunch of CD's in on the Deadslackstring label from Ireland

      this week. I think some of 'em we've had before but I was intrigued by

      this Plinth CD mainly cos of the slightly oversized goodness of the sleeve

      and the haunting old photography adorning the front cover. Inside they've

      very thoughtfully shoved a bit of velvet behind the CD so you know it's

      gonna be toasty and warm in those cold winter nights. The music on

      Albatross would keep you nice and toasty as well I reckon... it's proper

      late night floaty listening!! Lots of meandering guitars being plucked

      here and there over some bowed dulcimer, harp and piano. Very tasty

      indeed.... I'd have to shoe horn the word pastoral in just cos it seems

      necessary. If you're a fan of the Rusted Rail label's output you'll be

      quite taken by this album I reckon. It's split into 5 pieces and they all

      ebb and flow into each other like an ebby flowy thing. Very lovely and

      atmospheric!! 

LEICESTER BANGS

Plinth - Albatross (Dead Slack String Records)

            When a CD comes in felt lined packaging, a due consideration has

            undoubtedly been given to the protection of it. Plinth's Albatross

            is the CD in question, and the fragility and delicacy of the music

            etched into the polycarbonate really does warrant it.  Named - and

            recorded - in homage to Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross", across Plinth's

            "Albatross I" to "Albatross IV", Michael Tanner et al, conceptualise

            clear blue skies and what it would feel like to catch the wind and

            glide above the sea. Flawlessly placed guitar, harp and piano notes

            are swept gently upwards by harmonium and gently downwards by bowed

            dulcimer. Starting out as an idea to simply cover the entirety of

            Fleetwood Mac's masterpiece, the result bares some resemblance but,

            in Tanner's own words: "In the art of failing miserably, something

            new was created."

            www.deadslackstring.com

            Willsk

OTHER CHANNELS

Dublin based lindependent label Deadslackstring have some really interesting

music in their catalogue, one of which is an album from Plinth - the project of

Southern English composer, writer and musician Michael Tanner who is also a

member of the bands Directorsound, Tyneham House, United Bible Studies and The

Rural Tradition. He also plays live with English folk-musician Sharron Kraus.

Fans of Kraus and her collaboraters such as Fursaxa are likely to enjoy this

album. 

The album is described as "a collection of ambient/drone pieces infused with a

seaswept Victorian atmosphere." In this respect, the album could be compared to

the hauntological movement, but dealing with a much earlier period in time than

those artists who are inspired by 1960s sounds such as the work of the

Radiophonic workshop.

The album could also be heard as something of a collection of lost field

recordings - a kind of folk music that is as much about environments and

atmospheres as instrumentation.

Albatross comprises 5 pieces which are all interlinked. The album mirrors the

languid passage of time of something organic. Each piece is like of photograph

of the same place, but with subtle differences.

Albatross I begins with a mellow acoustic guitar figure. It also contains what

sounds like a violin and a few plucks of quavering strings. The kind of sublime

minimalism of this track is at times reminiscent of the music of Richard Youngs.  

Albatross II is similar in feel with the addition of delicate percussion and

chimes. Ben Chasney's Six Organs of Admittance project might be another point of

reference, though Plinth is certainly something in itself.

In Albatross III, and epic 35 minute long piece - piano notes rise and fall. It

is an eerily beautiful decay. The atmospheric guitar and drones are gauzy and

ghostly.

Listening to this album was like discovering an old photo album - a relic of a

time long since past. You look at each picture and wonder about it. The detail

is there but something is left out. It's both beautiful and creates a sense of

loss that is quite poignant.

All in all it's an album I'd highly recommend investigating. 

Posted by Andrea at 21:26 

FLUID RADIO

The last week has been one of those unusual weeks of transition. Winter is

finally tailing off, and slowly but surely we are being teased with brighter

days and warmer temperatures.

We are however subjected to subtle reminders of what is being left behind as a

cold breeze or a sudden shower interferes with our shift in focus. Therefore,

it's appropriate in many ways that I had the opportunity to review this

interesting recording from UK composer Michael Tanner, or Plinth, during this

period.

"Albatross" is a collection of 5 interpretations of the Fleetwood Mac track of

the same name and like the changes we are witnessing in the world around us, it

provides the listener with a variation of audible delights suitable for the

adapting seasons.

Despite being a bird, in literary circles the Albatross itself is largely

considered to hold metaphorical value.  Sometimes defined as a wearisome burden,

this is in an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient

Mariner.

The original composition from Fleetwood Mac was in many ways an early example of

ambient guitar music focusing on just two chord patterns, balanced lightly with

cymbals. It's a dreamy composition and Plinth certainly pays homage in this

respect with each track successfully conveying a relaxed, gentle approach to

music.

To expand upon the original's approach Tanner calls upon the services of Aine

O'Dwyer (harp), Richard Moult (piano) and Nick Palmer (piano on one track).

While these accompaniments are subtle, they add both depth and richness to the

recordings they feature on.

The tracks themselves vary in scope ranging from the relatively short "Albatross

Four" (clocking in at just under four minutes) to the expansive and drawn out

"Albatross Three" (which comes in at over twenty five minutes). Despite these

differences in duration, the tracks stay true to their source each conveying

images of slow tides, starry nights, gentle breezes and all to different

degrees.

Over the last week I have enjoyed these sounds whilst waking up earlier in the

morning thanks to the brighter dawn. I've had the luxury of sitting on a park

bench absorbing these sounds through my headphones on a lunch break, accompanied

by the ambience of a bustling city as it awakes from it hibernation.  I've also

battled rainstorms and bitter winds as the change in climate reluctantly sheds

its skin. Yet despite this, and in spite of any metaphorical connotations the

Albatross holds, Plinth has done away with any encumbrance and delivered a

harmonious collection of sounds appropriate for all conditions.

- Review by Josh Atkin for Fluid Radio

ABC RADIO PLAYLIST _ AUSSIE NATIONAL RADIO 

SHINDIG MAGAZINE

PLINTH

            Albatross

            Deadslackstring CD

            www.myspace.com/deadslackstringlabel

            Alcohol can convince us we are filled with good ideas. For Plinth,

            the nom de plume of Michael Tanner (sometime member of United Bible

            Studies, The A Lords and The Rural Tradition), it caused him to

            think reinterpreting Fleetwood Mac's 'Albatross' five times was a

            good idea.

            Objectively, these tracks bear little resemblance to Peter Green's

            surprise 1969 #1. What Plinth has achieved instead is to capture its

            tiny details; the shimmer of the cymbal after Mick taps it; the

            brooding youthful concentration of Danny Kirwan; the sweat of a

            thousand bedroom musicians practicing the slide guitar motif. In

            reconstructing these afterglows, Plinth has created something really

            rather lovely.

            This is cerebral, precise music but it never has the feel of a dry

            experiment. There's an instinctive and warm heart to Albatross that

            makes for ideal late-night listening, whether you're a Fleetwood Mac

            fan or not (and I certainly am not).

            Jeanette Leech 

".Dorset's Plinth appeared on the Geographic compilation You Don’t Need Darkness To Do What You Think Is Right back in 2001. As the title suggests, all eight tracks on this EP were created by the 'creaking, winding, piping, chiming and wood-knocking of Victorian parlour music machines'. Though Plinth sometimes lets aged fairground/carnival tunes peek through the static, more often he uses the music machines for melancholy toy tunes, or reflective puddles of wistful melody, swamping the sweet metallic ring of the instrument with layers of machine clutter and clatter. " The Wire.

" 10 stars out of 10.... What strikes me every time I play this cdr is the sheer delicacy and dreamlike nature of the music. There's this whole tapestry of more or less loosely-bound melodies and ghostly textures that never exhaust their mysterious powers. Sometimes, there are moments that may recall the sound-world of Cecile Schott aka Colleen, although a closer listen reveals a different kind of approach altogether, at least to my ears. Right, the melodies do not necessarily follow a song-like structure. Sometimes, only fragments of them are actually surfacing . But this doesn’t make up for the fragile poetry that you will find here. True, the chosen medium (a three-inch cdr) makes the experience all the more concise in its overall scope and the collage method is deliberately unconventional (only one piece of software was used for the sole purpose of editing the tunes), but there is something here that just cannot be fully grasped into words. I may venture to write that, like Vashti Bunyan's oft-misunderstood lullabies, the music of Plinth is able to create a singular climate that offers as much a safe haven as a more acute awareness of the dangers that may surround us. Consequently, the dreamlike quality of the music mentioned just above is not merely lovely-sounding and it is a tribute to Tanners unique experimental edge to make us hear other unexpected voices in-between the tunes themselves. To my mind, these darker overtones are a full part of the fabric of this work and although they're not overwhelming in any way, their presence is quietly upsetting. Again, this may all be woven from the stuff that dreams are made of, but there's a reality going on here too, and it will be as joyful, lively and sad as you want it to be. It's also a perfect example of how free music can be, as it starts to behave like an organic entity that plays along with its creator(s) and develop the ability to change the way we actually listen to all this without even our realizing it. A true gem, indeed... " Foxy Digitalis