Strange New Worlds

Many of literature's greatest works, from ancient myths to the works of Nobel laureates, rely on fantasy. Even when there has been a dominant preference for realism, generation after generation of readers have been drawn to stories of the fantastic not only for what they help us learn about ourselves as individuals and about our collective selves but also for what they show about our social values.

Awakenings 2007 Vol. 1: New Worlds (2007). Brendan Pollard donates his awesome twenty-minute 'E-Live 2006 Rehearsal' to get this double CD set underway. The initial sounds are as if vast objects are being hurled into the sea accompanied by all sorts of weird whooshes and twitters. A superb combination of sequences emerge from the aquatic depths. These meld rapid melodic runs as well as bass pulses. It is all underpinned by some wonderful mellotron. In other words Berlin School Heaven. More sequences are added accompanied by a flutey lead line. In the seventh minute things subside to more thick analogue sonic effects, coming out of it with a decidedly 'Ricochet' sounding collage of sounds. Very impressive indeed…