sone institute...
Category: Music

Sone Institute 'Silver leaves and woolly dreams' (Three Towers). Exquisite. In all honesty its as good as that and frankly not a lot more we can add. In fact we were musing for most of the day whether to simply leave this review as such but clearly our need and want for waxing lyrical got the better of us and anyway if I had left it so succinctly and to the point you would no doubt think I was off on one and ignore what is a truly cleverly crafted collection of cuts. Assuming the hand numbered reverse of this release is by way an indication, then this CD is strictly limited to just 60 copies (ours in case you were wondering is 8). Sone Institute is the creatively mercurial alter ego of St Albans resident Roman Bezdyk who first tweaked our radar by way of his work on the ongoing remix project instigated by Long Division with Remainders (see missive 160 or go to www.myspace.com/longdivisionwithremainders for more info), to date he has released a preciously select number of releases via the Three Towers imprint while next year should see him making his debut outing for the newly augmented Front and Follow label of Manchester (whose inaugural release by Elite Barbarian has been much ruffling the feathers of our hi-fi of late). Anyhow enough of the meandering domestics, 'silver leaves and woolly dreams' (his latest opus) features six sumptuous treats limited as previously advertised to just 60 copies and all lovingly housed in an impeccably attractive CD case replete with - what we assume are - pressed leaves. It provides for a gorgeously daydream journey of sound, mood and texture, from the whirling lunatic overtures of the lilting 'dark forest - silver sea' with its fragmented glazes of watery riff flotillas, disorientating mirages and snow tipped montages to the strangely mind arranging mantra that is the lysergic lull of 'burnt land' or the down tempo tinged exotic hazes of the crookedly transcendental 'steps to the sun (part 2)' there's no denying that Bezdyk applies broad artistic aural brushstrokes to his richly vibrant sound canvas. 'one tree hill' alas not the bad Bono and U2 cut from 'Joshua Tree' - at least we assume it isn't and if it is then its been bent, twisted and warped out of recognition, instead this little cutie is a carnival-esque kaleidoscopic mirage that craftily marinates elements of the Go Teams 'get it together', the Tornadoes 'telstar' and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich's 'legend of Xanadu' along with dapples of Morricone-esque trace ingredients and has them relocated to some strangely wired and wonderfully wonky seaside front wherein the genius mindset of Joe Meek wreaks impish 'Phantom of the Opera' like glee upon a Wurlitzer organ - just love the 'fool on the hill' Beatles refrains. Disturbingly addictive stuff. We've previously had cause and dare I say delight in mentioning 'London heir' in previous dispatches and can still find no better way of describing it than to say it really does sound like Broadcast and Plone shimmying up together to craft out some chilled and sophisticatedly well heeled moments of vintage styled 70's library pop. Sore thumb of the pack is the decidedly ominous psych prog gem 'hobbyhorse' a detached and warped slice of skewed electro ambience whose bloodline re-traces its ancestry with disturbing pre-occupation back to John Carpenter backdrops albeit as were viewed by some wired and weird collaboration between Add N to X and Goblin. We await with eager anticipation further instalments. www.myspace.com/soneinstitute

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