Todd Merrell - Neptune

Dreamland
DR019

Admittedly, there are more than a handful of things about this recording that emit new-agey warning signals. The cover kinda screams “ECM, 1978”, the title along with the track names (eight of Neptune’s moons) and, on a superficial level, even the music. But at least that last bit is misleading. Merrell sources short-wave emissions from the electro-magnetosphere, makes minimal adjustments or enhancements, mostly involving loops and reverb, and presents the results as thick, sometimes smooth, sometimes gnarly slabs of hum ‘n’ static. If, after all is said and done, it tends more toward the tonally agreeable and if the reverb is ladled on a tad heavily for my taste, I can see the music having wide appeal for people who enjoy (for example) Pauline Oliveros’ drone work or the long string music of Ellen Fullman.

Merrell has also worked with Francisco Lopez and you can hear a certain affinity, particularly if you pump up the volume a few notches. In some pieces, such as “Larissa”, you get toward a similar cavernous massiveness of sonic space; Lopez may seek to place you inside a jet engine but Merrell wants to situate you directly in line with a solar flare. A track like this comes closest to abandoning any traditional “musical” elements and is most successful, to these ears, as a pure, heady chunk of sonics. One can easily imagine, given a strong enough sound system, how immersive this music could be in live performance. The following cut, “Proteus”, takes things a step further by injecting some rude splats of static into the mix, creating an even grainier, less cloying stew. “Nereid”, the final piece here, breaks formation with the others, initially discarding the drone-wash and utilizing a series of semi-regular pulses, dusted with static and navigating between sine-like tones at various aural distances though eventually it too settles into the ether. It’s an intriguing tack, recalling (of all things) recordings like Hancock’s “Sextant”, pared and reduced but retaining a vestige of funk.

As mentioned above, “Neptune” is likely to be right up the alley for those already attuned with Oliveros and associated musicians, less so for the noisier inclined.

merrell