Review: A-Sun Amissa & Lauren Mason ‘Water Scores’
Usually when I start writing down my thoughts and rough notes for a review, I sit, listen and scribble things down song by song, take a break, come back and start again. With this release, I don’t have that luxury, as Water Scores is one song, just over thirty-eight minutes in length, and my mind has been taken to places that I never knew existed.
I’m sat listening more in bewilderment than anything else, trying to soak in all the different sounds and textures that A-Sun Amissa have experimented with, as Lauren Mason’s monologues float above, and then blend seamlessly into the composition. It creates a truly wonderful ambience through crushing confusion and diverse drones, overlayed to create a ravine of post-rock, doom noise.
The title gives an indicator of what topic the spoken word is going to concentrate on, with Lauren, best known as the bass player from the now-defunct and rather excellent Torpor, taking that lead role. Whereas A-Sun Amissaare, in their own words, ‘a group in a permanent state of metamorphosis’ who shift the soundscapes from one place to another with effortless ease, matching the soft vocal tones. Trying to second-guess where this music is going from one moment to the next is completely futile.
the drone noises cascade around, echoing the thoughts and words…
There are moments of deep unpleasantness, as the drone noises cascade around, echoing the thoughts and words of Laurenabout ‘corporate extraction and pollution on our planet’s water’. You also get an overriding sense that this is futuristic in parts; however its very much focused on the here and now, and relevant to all of us. This album has allowed Laurento develop her lyrical musings further, wrapped around the innovative and creative force that is the shape-shifting sounds that underpin the sonics.
You can’t fail to be moved by the clashing of notes, whether it’s from a guitar, a synth, a sampled hydrophone, a loop or a clarinet, as they project the meaningful words in the most composed manner. There’s no clashing between the political and the aesthetic; more of a harmonious symmetry where they both speak for themselves in the most powerful of ways. The collaboration was, we’ve been told by those involved, ‘born of a mutual love for each other’s creative output’, and that shines through in the production. So, take a deep breath and plunge into Water Scores.
Label: Gizeh Records
A-Sun Amissa: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Lauren Mason: Official | Facebook | Instagram
