Inlandish is the third concerted plan between these two artists, following The Persistence Of Memory and Lunz. Not only it’s incontrovertibly their best but deserves - no ifs and buts - a spot in my own top ten of 2008 favourites.
The dog-eared concept of “deceptively simple” is just right for the depiction of this program: suggestive melodies, halfway through kind-hearted fragility and familiar ripples of remembrance, are carried on by Roedelius’ typically remorseful piano playing and Story’s penchant for psychological suspension; yet the same elements become somewhat misshapen by a splendidly communicative use of processing, sampling and electronic treatments, attributing a different, ever-anomalous palette to each piece.
Echoes of past glories are definitely perceptible in certain cyclical arpeggios – check “Beforst”, distantly reminiscent of “Ho Renomo” on Cluster & Eno - without any semblance of “conscious theft” of those impressions, a sort of childish peaceableness taking possession of the heart in several occasions, which is all the more valuable in moments of particular regret. When the time comes, a touch of orchestral brilliance is assured: give a try to “House of Glances”, a shatteringly moving theme highlighted by asymmetrical synthetic timbres and the unexpected appearance of a woeful choir in the secreted corners of the mix.
This is guileless music, the type of candidly insightful expression which even a callous misanthropist needs a prescription of, at least every once in a while. To be listened ad infinitum throughout uneasy nights ending with the consciousness of the existence of new options of perseverance.
Grönland
