The world of computer-processed instrumentation has been forever changed by Christian Fennesz and for that many musicians including New Orleans duo Belong owe him a debt of thanks or at least acknowledgment of inspiration. Belong’ “October Language’ moves with an epic beauty and a sense of spaces (both open and dense) that brings to mind some of the finer moments of work by Fennesz and other acoustic processors.
Whilst ambient for the most part, in that their music contains a powerful sense of atmosphere and audio landscape, there’ occasional moments of melodic echo that filters through these pieces. Referencing My Bloody Valentine in their press material, it’s perhaps these melodic fragments that tie into the tradition of wall of sound guitar music. The title track from the record is one of the highlights, a sheering and emotive piece of sound, its slow building moods create a sense of beauty that is indeed one of the best aspects of this kind of processed guitar work – given the right attention, each instrument is transformed from its usual sound into a wonderfully imaginative and elongated cluster of waveforms that commands attentive ears and a willingness to be lost in the audio. Ah, refreshing, even if the reference points are perhaps occasionally a little too derivative.
Lawrence English
