Dave Halverson
"Fragments of What" CDR
Lucid
Moon Child Music
Genres: instrumental
Sep 6 - 12 2004 |
I knew almost immediately that Dave Halverson's Fragments of
What was one of those albums that was either really good or really
bad. The pretentious minimalist cover, the presence of an
"intermission" (although I must say that I do prefer
"intermissions" to "interludes"), the brilliant
song titles such as "Omicron", "Cursed by Robot
Gods", and my favorite "In the Name of the Higher Quadrivium"...
there was no way for me to be wrong. An album this pretentious either
lives up to the obscene expectations it creates or flops completely.
It's inescapable.
But I guess it could also fit into a third slot; that of the ironic
mockery of the pretentious. And now think about it - any song named
"In the Name of the Higher Quadrivium" has got to be a joke.
Oh, aren't I clever? I bet I fooled you on
that one. It's hard not to expect yet another "impression of the
pretentious artist" when we're so constantly pelted with them.
But this is the real thing, a pretentious album and nothing more. And
somehow it succeeds. What's more, it inexplicably does so in the most
understated fashion. The bare instrumentals of Fragments of What
don't go out of their way to make a statement of some sort, and at
times one must wonder whether Halverson is trying to pass on a
message at all. My filthy habit of judging books by covers got the
worst of me today, as I'm stuck wondering whether Halverson
wrote these songs with a certain meaning in mind or wrote them as
simple musical experiments. He certainly pushes boundaries with his
constantly varied, mostly indefinable blend of sound. The defining
characteristic of this album is the clever idea that there shouldn't
be a dominant melody in any of his songs. Rather than give us one
sound to remember a song by, with the others merely supporting and
reinforcing the effect of this dominant melody, Halverson
features melodies that somehow make perfect harmony in their
competition to come out as the primary sound. In this way there's
nothing to remember his songs by; and this only merits repeated
listens. (That's a good thing.)
Of course that can't apply to the whole album, though. In some
songs ("Omicron," "Farmers in the Spirit Field"),
one gets the hint of a dominant sound, although luckily these melodies
are constantly changing as to not make the songs mere odes to a catchy
beat. In his "intermission", entitled "The Fair",
it's quite obvious that the song is built on a theme. (The theme would
be that of a fair for those of you who score low on reading
comprehension standardized tests.) But the contrast with the rest of
the album is forgivable and even interesting, as contrast tends to be.
The only thing that really mars the album's obvious creative sound
is the use of a very basic drum machine whenever rhythm sections are
called for. While every other sound on the album sounds foreign and
fascinating, the flamingly synthesized, programmed drum beats pull you
a bit farther back into musical reality. It's not a nice feeling when
you think where the album would be without it.
One drawback like that, though, isn't quite enough to spoil such an
original effort. All in all, Fragments of What fails to live up
to the expectations it creates. It defies them, sets off in a new
direction, and impresses us anyways. I realize that I'm about to be
extremely lame, but there's not much else I can say about something
like this. (A superb project.)
86%
Engelbert K.
Mutton [Vitals:
14 tracks, distributed by the
artist, released 2004] |
