Milesians

A SLOW RIP – For The Time Being (2-CD, Endgame Records)

Listening to the new A Slow Rip double-CD release is really taking a sound journey through a sometimes desolate landscape. You don't just listen to A Slow Rip because it is a whole-body experience, with the sound absolutely consuming you. It is often very filmic, evoking strong visual images and emotions.

The first CD opens with two pieces which are like a continuum. Hollow Bowl, followed by Hard Defined may have their roots in Brian Eno's Music for Films and Music for Airports, but they are really music for lost worlds, evocative and soothing yet somehow disturbing. And unsettling. Especially considering the following piece Devil in the Well which awakens the listener from their serenity. The remainder of the first CD is a perfect marriage of A Slow Rip’s members’ (Rob Laurie, Ian Miles and Phil Turnbull) deep-seated love of drone music, Terry Reilly [Riley I presume - hooray! IM], Krautrock, 70s electronic music (particularly Germanic), the English post-punk group This Heat, and musique concrete’s harsher sounds.