Wind & Wire review of The Amaranth Signal's "penumb

[Mohoyoho]

http://www.windandwire.com/aug04/penumbra.htm

review by Ben Fleury-Steiner

With Penumbra, The Amaranth Signal has accomplished something unusual today: They present compositions played without overdubs as a working three man ensemble. Yet when one dissects the phrase "live ambient ensemble" it is ironic that there are not more such works being released - as opposed to the plethora of one man or woman electronic offerings regularly spun out. Alas, there really is nothing ironic going on here at all - the advent of the fully electronic studio and thus the relative ease of the 'go it alone' approach - has meant fewer electronic musicians coming together to write and perform material as a working ensemble.

Penumbra is thus a long overdue dose of fresh, live recorded multi-instrumental ambient soundscapes. In approaching this work then Webster's is a good place to start for a refresher: Am´bi`ent n. 1. Something that surrounds or invests; as, air . . . being a perpetual ambient. En`sem´ble n. The whole; all parts taken together. In short, an effective ambient ensemble is one that produces enveloping - indeed, surrounding - sounds as a whole.

From this perspective, I would give The Amaranth Signal - three fellow Tennesseans: Mark Mahoney, Michael Peck, and Roger Hausman - very high marks. This album reminds me of some of the live recordings of the Ashra Temple or even early Tangerine Dream in that it displays very strong chemistry between each performer. The sprawling - sometimes tribal influenced - textures serve as a rather ethereal foundation for Mark Mahoney's heavily reverberating guitar passages. That's right, Mahoney plays guitar, and his sound is reminiscent of Jeff Pearce's approach on Bleed or some of Pearce's live recorded works that I've heard bits and pieces of online. Only Peck and Hausman's accompaniment take Mahoney's soothing and sometimes otherworldly guitar sounds into an incense-tinged tribal and altogether more mysterious realm. This is a very cohesive collection of sounds that almost blends together: A good indicator of a strong live offering. On the other hand, those listeners looking for a more surprising and diverse array of uncategorizable sounds beware: you won't find anything avant garde on Penumbra.

The standout track on this set is the title track, "Penumbra." It is a gorgeous almost symphonic ambient work. The sounds of incoming moans (produced perhaps by a strings ensemble preset using Absynth or the like) and floating flute accompanied by Mahoney's driving guitar create something altogether unique and absorbing. The Amaranth Signal obviously rehearses rigorously, as the transitions between passages on these live recordings are, at least to these ears, flawless.

In some respects, listening to Penumbra also reminds me of the multi-instrumental work of Terra Ambient - perhaps only because I have been recently listening to clips from said artist's forthcoming release The Gate - nevertheless, I would recommend this album to listeners who enjoy very well composed ambient and tribal soundscapes.

[elektro80]

Hey... that is our Ben.. the "gears of sand" Ben! A great review. Grats! And you deserve it!

[jkn]

Nice review - I didn't realize Ben was writing for Wind and Wire. He's a forum regular over on Hypnos as well.

Ok - for the record - did Ben get the "incense-tinged" right - was there lots of incense burning???

[Mohoyoho]

No incense was harmed in the recording of these performances.

[mosc]

Congrats, nice review...