Orchestra Dim Bridges Review

Grooves Magazine 5/05 Ed Howard With Orchestra Dim Bridges, experimental musicians Eyvind Kang and Tucker Martine have crafted a lush, gorgeous album of deceptively straightforward orchestral pastiche. Deceptive, not only because the music here is far more complicated than it first appears, but also because there’s actually no orchestra involved beyond Kang and Martine. The duo weaves intricate melodies from Kang’s smooth violin lines, encasing them in reverberating drones, nuanced percussion (including bicycle bells on "Dim Bridges"), woodwind tones, and piano. Everything is encased in an ethereal haze, which often makes it difficult to determine if these are real instruments or synthesized approximations. It also lends a dreamy air to the entire album, as if every note was in the process of floating away, your ear catching each one just before it’s lost forever. What this album is about, more than anything, is an attention to nuanced sounds and the interaction between unexpected elements. The Asian-sounding woodwind on "Baseer Ornamental" traces out a ghostly melody with Kang’s violin slipping into the cracks, a constantly shifting bed of crackling percussion and dissonant electronic tones gurgling away underneath. Or there’s the rhythmic piano part that fades in and out of "The Echoing Green," subtly driving the song even when its presence is felt rather than heard. Or the unexpectedly thick horn parts that provide a woozy big-band feel to tracks like "Elegy Elegie" and "Madrona." Or the way the skittering rush of glitched-out drums on "Braille Oscuro" subtly morphs into a genuine beat, with spy-movie bass pulses driving it along. These arrangements are filled with such crevices, where small and interesting sounds hide and pop their heads out for brief intervals. But the pieces also seem as light as feathers, carrying this heavy musical content buoyed by bouncy melodies and a free-flowing style that incorporates various international musics with an overarching avant-garde sensibility. The result is an accessible, exciting, and downright fun disc that’s as compulsively listenable as it is overwhelmingly innovative. Definitely a must-hear.