Ever listen to something only to have it seep so deep that it resurfaces in your dreams? Yes, this happened to me. In my constant travels looking for music to hear, I came upon a band by the name of Land Observations, and complete listens to all available music has entranced me enough to listen through their releases several times. The music produced contain no vocals. It is all music. Minimal at that. But the ambient flavors were addictive. And so, here I am.
Land Observations is the project of James Brooks, who is an integral part of the UK band, Appliance. To make this a bit of knowledge for you, Appliance is a vocal three piece band signed to one of my favorite labels, Mute Records. They have four excellent, Mute -issued albums that include Are You Earthed? from 2003 (their last). Their structure is minimalism. The albums from Appliance are experimental, certainly not for everyone, although it is safe to say that the audience for Appliance would be wider than Land Observations.
In 2011, Brooks’ latest band, Land Observations, released a three-track exploratory EP, Roman Roads. The three instrumental tracks found on Roman Roads possessed a haunting element to them, uneasy to shake. By the following year, Land Observations followed up the introductory EP with a brilliant eight song album. The album, known as Roman Roads IV-XI (the numbering referring to the number of songs carrying over from the EP’s three songs). is a stunning collection of musical pieces that seem to carry far deeper than the casual listen. There is a feel of Velvet Underground in them, especially in comparison to “Heroin”, with its repetitive but simple heartbeat guitar pluck that begins the popular VU track. It is “Via Flaminia” that wove its way into my subconscious, swimming to the surface within my dream. In fact, it was the most important part of the dream that I focused on as my mind began to reattach to reality.
It is with great pleasure that I find that on July 28 (UK), July 29 (US), Mute Records will release The Grand Tour from Land Observations. What will make The Grand Tour more interesting is its recorded content. Created on a single 6-string guitar, and recorded at the edge of the Bavarian Alps, this album revisits the historic Grand Tour of the 17th through 19th century. The Grand Tour was a rite of passage, a tradition for wealthy University graduates who took the time to explore the arts and cultures of the continent. The songs on The Grand Tour reflect an imaginary passage between Western, Central, and Southern Europe. And if it even has a fraction of the qualities of both Roman Roads issues, it will be a beautiful album.
[#8230;] written about Land Observations before, and with good reason (read here). Land Observations is a project started by James Brooks, who was an important creative part of the [#8230;]