BRIAN MCBRIDE - The Effective Disconnect

While his partnership with Adam Wiltzie remains in a prolonged state of dormancy since the monumental "And Their Refinement Of The Decline", the other half of Stars Of The Lid dusts off his solo career with a work that follows up on "When The Detail Lost Its Freedom", released in 2005, again on the trusted Kranky label.

"The Effective Disconnect" is not, however, a work that can be separated in any way from the evolutionary path of these creators of sonic journeys "behind the eyelids", nor, looking closely, can it really be considered an album in its own right, as its predecessor under the name Brian McBride instead was - that one truly an organic work, conceived as a credible alternative path to that of the main band. In this case, in fact, we're dealing with excerpts from the soundtrack of a 2009 documentary directed by George Langworthy and Maryam Heinen, titled "Vanishing Of The Bees", about the progressive disappearance of honeybees from the global ecosystem. Both the documentary and its musical accompaniment focus on the themes of the splendor of bees, the work of traditional beekeepers, and ultimately the advent of pesticides, set against organic farming.

McBride's music accompanies the images, tracing harmonic loops and stretched-out textures that seem, on the surface, detached from the underlying subject matter - aside from a certain sensation of flight in the opening sections - but are instead positioned in substantial continuity with the latest works by Stars Of The Lid.

Yet while (master)works such as "The Tired Sounds Of Stars Of The Lid" and, above all, "And Their Refinement Of The Decline" portrayed stellar evanescence through a grandiose sonic architecture, albeit one rooted in drone minimalism, "The Effective Disconnect" presents itself from the start as a more essential work, built as it is on brief mini-suites, dominated by barely filtered strings and woodwinds, along with occasional touches of keyboards and glockenspiel. Just take, for example, the exquisite chamber-music twists of the two parts of "Melodrames Telegraphies (In B Major 7th)", convincing scaled-down variations on the band's expansive orchestral sound, the single note that sets "Girl Nap" in motion, and the enchanted, snowy fading of "Several Tries (In An Unelevated Style)" and "Supposed Essay On The Piano (B Major Piano Adagietto)".

The second half of the record features even more concise pieces, in which McBride's measured, descriptive romanticism is reduced to a mere breath ("Toil Theme Part 1") or a simple vibration ("Toil Theme Part 2"), before taking on more unsettled tones that overwhelm the initial metronomic fluidity of "Beekeepers vs Warfare Chemicals". The process of progressive subtraction, in terms of instrumental elements and the extent of electronic filtering, culminates in the closing "Chamber Minuet", which does nothing more than live up to its title, letting the sound of the string quartet emerge in all its enchanted beauty, uncontaminated and stripped of any technological overlay save for a few lingering traces of muffled sonic haze.

A work destined by its very nature to remain a marginal chapter in Brian McBride's artistic path, "The Effective Disconnect" nonetheless offers further proof of his compositional class, marking another step in his pursuit of an expressive register ever closer to zero, yet still rich with suggestion.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

25/12/2010