Finally a refreshing
deconstructed sound. Finally an eroded and corroded tonescape that has width
and breadth. Finally someone since Bauhaus that recognizes the musical quality
of noise and naturalistic sounds rather than dropping distortion over a drum
machine and calling it music. Leigh does with reverberations what Twink has
done with melody and instrumentation.
Take Me Away to Dreamland accomplishes what the prelude to Pink Floyd’s Time does not, and is a both a psychological salve…and irritant. Push/Pull is precisely that. It is felt. In all the strength of a verb, a word of action without overall meaning. Dipping a toe into the deep waters that is Jung’s collective unconscious is NARC. It brings a sense of sound, music and emotional experience and intent. With thick Indian overtones and juxtapositions of powerful tones, like a bringing of strength to subservience, is Unpaved Roads.
I’ve never contemplated the concept of Elephant Milk. The idea is an academic one. Elephants, being mammals, lactate. I put it in coffee. Ginger Leigh explores the concept of the elephant to its conceptual and social and continues the theme. Introspection, gentility, and fragile accepting are the conjured feelings of Pearl Necklace. Like a quiet realization on an autumn morning.
I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know is not so gentle. It is Neitche’s great horror, staring into the abyss to find it staring back at him. I Dreamt a Dream of WAR is the most subtle of any song on the subject. Both fearful and longing it is the gentle whisper of antique times.
Surprising, and completely fitting, is the mouthharp counterpoint of Here Comes the Asian Cowboy. It does not end comfortably. Followed by Graveyard of Dreams is the nightmare of the opium den, and the banshee’s gasp before wail. And just for a change that the sounds around silence are powerful as well is the Ventriloquist is Drinking Mint Tea. I Know What I Gotta Do is a song of an unheard mantra, strolling through foreign markets.
This album is to be experienced, not listened to passively. Most strive to entertain, to fill 40 minutes or so of someone’s life with a diversion rather than to enrich. If you dance to this album it will likely be a performance art piece. It strives to be more than a hole in time, more than a telling of tales. It shows with all the mystery of a scrapbook without captions. It succeeds.
Contact
Information:
Post: Ginger Leigh, PO Box 683, Artesia, CA,
90702-0683, USA
E-Mail: boujeloudia@hotmail.com
Web:
www.gingerleigh.com
