The bio has Ciaran Byrne pinned as an ambient artist, but I’m not having any of it. While the tempos are definitely gentle, the Irishman creates music with considerably more movement and rhythmic push than could be classified as ambient. There is a tendency to sometimes stray into new-ageism which can become aural wallpaper, but that is a completely different thing. It’s only a slight tendency, though, which is generally kept in check with interesting DSP textures, grainy snatches of field recordings and rigorously programmed rhythms.
‘Dustbeam’ is nicely indicative of the set overall. Starting with a phased acoustic guitar strum, a rhythm is built using what sound like snatches of footsteps in a reverberating corridor. Some tasty 70s sounding synths float in before the beats emerge, glitching and pulsing their way in and out of the track. ‘Circular Bruno’ has what could almost be termed a breakbeat – a little subdued, yes, but funky none-the-less. What I find most appealing throughout the album is the mustiness of the synths, which sound as if they are filtered through sandpaper, leaving warm grit to overlay their otherwise soothing timbres. Mix this with tape hiss as is done in ‘Pyrite Eventide’ and the music refuses to merely take a place as background. ‘Axiom’ is almost electro, with it’s squelching bass and hi-hat runs.
Nine Lives Causeway couldn’t really be regarded as groundbreaking, but there is enough textural contrast to the washes of sounds to keep interest, and enough moments of inspiration to warrant repeated listening.
Adrian Elmer
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