22 Nov 2024
The Impending Adorations - Album Review: Allies
23 Oct 2019 // A review by malexa
Paul McLaney is one of those artists who never fails to get me where I’m most vulnerable, least alive and yet open to the possibility of being transported
somewhere beyond myself.
I’ve been listening to Allies, his latest release as Impending Adorations, while attempting to rediscover a new purpose in an old life.
It has bought me unexpected solace. It whispers rather than shouts, it intimates rather than openly provokes. It has an aliveness and integrity to it that often hints at a familiar melody that you once knew but had forgotten, a fragrance that invigorates your senses but whose source you can’t quite identify and a sense of purpose to it that is open-ended enough to reveal itself as something different upon repeated listens. Construction, reconstruction. Presence, absence, Body, soul. Memory, awakening.
Allies has a simple dedication to M.R.W. and is composed of nine tracks, the most immediate of which are The Ladder, Breathe In/Breathe Out, Sons & Daughters, All At Once and A New Conversation. They are suggestive rather than obvious with lyrics, when they are perceptible (as far as I can make out), - "it’s not working, we are talking past each other, all else is an accusation" (The Ladder), "all at once it overtakes me, though I dealt with this long ago, how can the emotion travel such a distance come from my resistance, I don’t know" (All At Once) - that hang in the air, sometimes fragile at others echoing some long forgotten truth, questioning, probing and finding their own resolution in a matrix of compelling textures, earthy rhythms, over-dubbed vocals, rich electric guitar lines and found and electronically manipulated sounds.
There is no obvious road map to Allies so you just have to navigate yourself through each episode as it unfolds. Perhaps, this is what McLaney intended. As a musician and composer he is steeped in his own past influences that suggest a love of the string arrangements of Beatles arranger George Martin, the other-worldly clicks, beats and stilted rhythms of Can, while his vocal style is reminiscent of David Bowie, during his Berlin trilogy of collaborations with Brian Eno, and Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis.
What is most evident though from all of his releases as Impending Adorations is that McLaney is one of those artists who, through his music, creates the kind of spaces where you can lose something of yourself you thought you knew and find something new about yourself you might never have conceived of.
Paul McLaney is one of those artists who never fails to get me where I’m most vulnerable, least alive and yet open to the possibility of being transported
somewhere beyond myself.
I’ve been listening to Allies, his latest release as Impending Adorations, while attempting to rediscover a new purpose in an old life.
It has bought me unexpected solace. It whispers rather than shouts, it intimates rather than openly provokes. It has an aliveness and integrity to it that often hints at a familiar melody that you once knew but had forgotten, a fragrance that invigorates your senses but whose source you can’t quite identify and a sense of purpose to it that is open-ended enough to reveal itself as something different upon repeated listens. Construction, reconstruction. Presence, absence, Body, soul. Memory, awakening.
Allies has a simple dedication to M.R.W. and is composed of nine tracks, the most immediate of which are The Ladder, Breathe In/Breathe Out, Sons & Daughters, All At Once and A New Conversation. They are suggestive rather than obvious with lyrics, when they are perceptible (as far as I can make out), - "it’s not working, we are talking past each other, all else is an accusation" (The Ladder), "all at once it overtakes me, though I dealt with this long ago, how can the emotion travel such a distance come from my resistance, I don’t know" (All At Once) - that hang in the air, sometimes fragile at others echoing some long forgotten truth, questioning, probing and finding their own resolution in a matrix of compelling textures, earthy rhythms, over-dubbed vocals, rich electric guitar lines and found and electronically manipulated sounds.
There is no obvious road map to Allies so you just have to navigate yourself through each episode as it unfolds. Perhaps, this is what McLaney intended. As a musician and composer he is steeped in his own past influences that suggest a love of the string arrangements of Beatles arranger George Martin, the other-worldly clicks, beats and stilted rhythms of Can, while his vocal style is reminiscent of David Bowie, during his Berlin trilogy of collaborations with Brian Eno, and Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis.
What is most evident though from all of his releases as Impending Adorations is that McLaney is one of those artists who, through his music, creates the kind of spaces where you can lose something of yourself you thought you knew and find something new about yourself you might never have conceived of.
Rating:
( 5 / 5 )
About The Impending Adorations
Releases
Other Reviews By malexa
DateMonthYear - EP Review: The Exodus Suite
22 May 2021 // by malexa
The metamorphosis of the genesis of Exodus into The Exodus Suite while not quite of Biblical proportions is nevertheless on a grand scale. These five degrees of separation, with accompanying videos (the final installment – which is on its way) might share the same source material but, as always, DateMonthYear founder Trevor Faville twists and shape-shifts with an informed sense of musical invention.
Read More...
Album Review: Blood & Wires Volume One
13 May 2021 // by malexa
It’s still very much a brave new world when it comes to releasing music with its ever diminishing returns for physical product and the pecuniary stranglehold the major streaming services have on the industry. That’s why Tauranga-based boutique label Blood & Wires deserves a huge thumbs-up for its innovative and down-to-earth but wildly musically ambitious launch.
Read More...
13 May 2021 // by malexa
It’s still very much a brave new world when it comes to releasing music with its ever diminishing returns for physical product and the pecuniary stranglehold the major streaming services have on the industry. That’s why Tauranga-based boutique label Blood & Wires deserves a huge thumbs-up for its innovative and down-to-earth but wildly musically ambitious launch.
Read More...
Metanoia - Single Review: Sonder
13 May 2021 // by malexa
It’s always handy for a reviewer to have a bit of background information about an artist to get a creative context of where they have come from and where they might be heading. Metanoia is a bit of a mystery in this respect.
Read More...
Mark de Clive-Lowe - EP Review: Midnight Snacks Vol.1
16 Apr 2021 // by malexa
Mark de Clive-Lowe’s musical palette has always been so refreshing engaging and diverse that each new release is like receiving a care package – you don’t know what’s inside but you know you’ll find comfort in it. The Los Angeles-based Kiwi musician, DJ and night club and record label owner has been particularly busy in the last few years with albums and EPs ranging from the chillingly melodious jazz quartet outing Live At The Blue Whale, the steamingly funky club party Church Sessions with various cohorts and the conceptual Heritage I and II, which celebrated his bi-cultural heritage (he is half-Japanese).
Read More...
Serpent Dream - EP Review: Nova
11 Apr 2021 // by malexa
Serpent Dream's Nova is the debut release on Blood & Wires. The Tauranga-based boutique label was founded by Scott Brown last year with the express aim of raising the “profile of New Zealand based electronic and experimental artists.
Read More...
Mecuzine - Single Review: Blue Skies
15 Mar 2021 // by malexa
The slim-line edition of Mecuzine - brothers Joseph and Tony Johns – seems to have gained more than it might have seemingly lost. Blues Skies is the second single released since five became two and it’s another brooding, sonic masterpiece with an but almost tragically self-effacing punch line: “She wanted him to stay/Instead she got me/What an unlucky break”.
Read More...
Ant Tarrant - Single Review: Candle Lights
09 Mar 2021 // by malexa
Ant Tarrant has served his apprenticeship and it shows. Now back in New Zealand after following his muse to Central America and the US, where he was mentored in the art of song-writing and production, he’s settled in Kare Kare and opened up a music studio.
Read More...
Naircol - Single Review: Turbo Outrun
04 Feb 2021 // by malexa
In an interview with Naircol, following the release of his debut album Isolate late last year, he put collaborative ventures at the top of his wish list. It seems Santa Claus came calling in the form of Canadian producer Tokyo Rat, the result of which is the dynamic driving anthem Turbo Outrun.
Read More...
Most Viewed Artists
Latest Galleries
NZ Top 10 Singles
- APT.
ROSÉ And Bruno Mars - DIE WITH A SMILE
Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars - BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Billie Eilish - TASTE
Sabrina Carpenter - I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
Gracie Abrams - ESPRESSO
Sabrina Carpenter - SAILOR SONG
Gigi Perez - LOSE CONTROL
Teddy Swims - A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
Shaboozey - GOOD LUCK, BABE!
Chappell Roan
More Content on muzic.net.nz
Google Site Search
Custom Search
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report A Problem
