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Day Arrives |
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The Three Roses |
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SORRY FOR LAUGHING Sun Comes
Sorry For Laughing is a project by Gordon H. Whitlow who is also a member of legendary US avantgarde collective Biota, formerly Mnemonists or Mnemonist Orchestra. Their music is a mixture of modern classical, experimental sounds, noise, industrial, avangarde, songwriting and free jazz. In 1986 Gordon H. Whitlow released a cassette under the name Sorry For Laughing: "The compositions stem from my beginning days with the avant-garde recording ensemble Biota, shortly after completion of the Bellowing Room LP." The album was re-issued on CD by Klanggalerie in 2018 and is still available. Recently, Gordon reactivated the project and changed it from a solo effort into a new supergroup: it now consist of himself, Edward Ka-Spel of Legendary Pink Dots fame, and Martyn Bates of Eyeless In Gaza.Also contributing is Denver guitarist Janet Feder and the Dots' Patrick Q.Wright. For its fourth release on Klanggalerie – Sun Comes – Sorry For Laughing delves ever deeper into a journey through time, space, and the unexpected with a set that may best be heard as a metaphor for “a life in a day”. Following a three decades’ layoff, SFL reinvented itself as a diverse cross-section of like-minded cohorts working as a group in their own geographically displaced corners of the world, coming together with a resplendent sonic chemistry that coalesces the best of each member’s considerable musical oeuvre while moving towards a new chamber music for the current age, often paying homage to tales of old (and new). This marvelous group consists of producer Gordon H. Whitlow (Biota), Martyn Bates (Eyeless in Gaza, Kodax Strophes), Edward Ka-Spel (Legendary Pink Dots), Patrick Q Wright (Legendary Pink Dots, Officer!), and Janet Feder, with mastering by Randy Miotke (Biota) and other notable guests. Full tracklist: 1. Sun Comes Suite 2. Heart Of The Matter 3. The Three Roses 4. Adam Lay Ybounden 5. So, You Rest Easy. Price: € 19,-/copy incl. worldwide shipping.
In places, otherworldly voices rise wordlessly, with ghostly moans and cries blending with ascending drama, and the sheer scale of the piece and the way it transition from one place to another is remarkable, moving from classical to shanty to film score and beyond. The transitions are often unexpected, but always seamless. This first piece feels like an album in its own right, and with so many segued segments, the listening experience is a journey which takes substantial mental energy.
(Aural Aggravation, December 2023)
Całość Sun Comes wprowadza nas w oniryczne i senne rejony podparte wokalnymi narracjami nadającymi dramaturgii a czasami złagodzenia. Wszystkiemu temu towarzyszy wielobarwna harmonia instrumentów. Ten wielki, muzyczny konglomerat dźwiękowych barw ułożony jest w jakby jedną, nadrealistyczną suitę. Suitę opartą na sennym kolażu, piękna i bogactwa wspaniale wygrywanych melodii.
(Anxious Musick, December 2023)
Imagining the Penguin Cafe Orchestra under the direction of Mark Hollis. (...) Classical tradition instruments blend with multi-matter loud layering and Edward Ka-Spels voice tells stories that feel like timeless existential reflections... a really good record, in that this simple adjective includes others which are sincere, polite and visionary ... the legacy of previous projects such as Mnemonists, Mnemonists Orchestra or Biota is thus maintained and - if possible - reinvigorated for this new cultural season.
(Alieno de Bootes, January 2024)
Ambientalne, nostalgiczne plamy łączą się z niemal groźnymi awangardowymi pomrukami, które dalej narastają i w końcu wyciszają. Dźwięki te krążą w nas i raczą swoją subtelną aurą. Po raz kolejny Sorry For Laughing wchłania nas w swoje, magiczne otoczenie.
(Anxious Music Magazine, January 2024)
Whitlow offers deceptively simple melodies riding mesmerizing layers of musical textures and drawing on influences as disparate as medieval folk, punk, jazz, classical, and avant-garde musics. The music is not developed in an orthodox fashion. Rather, it moves through successive sonic neighborhoods that offer different auditory experiences, just as riding a trolley across a city will deliver scents and sights and sounds specific to each neighborhood through which you pass.
(Musically Speaking, January 2024)
La suite che di fatto titola Sun Comes è divisa in sei movimenti, una mezz ora non meno che magnifica, a partire dagli archi che si fanno strada nella nebbia dell iniziale stasi solenne con voci lamentose che preludono al trionfale ingresso di Martyn, con frange neoclassiche e suggestioni folk che introducono ad una parte centrale di fatale struggimento e al limite del deliquio, con impennate avant, frangenti alla Legendary Pink Dots, con strazio di violini e l’accordion che almeno si riserva il finale.
(Blow Up, February 2024)
More Eyeless In Gaza than Legendary Pink Dots, music-wise, as it all stays on the atmospheric side of things and doesnt have the outgoing sound we know from The Legendary Pink Dots. Whatever instruments are played, it all sounds like they try to create textured sounds, and the thought occurred that I know Biota and Mnemonists were using the studio-as-instrument. Put a lot of stuff on a multi-track tape, add tons of outboard effects and start mixing, coming up with music that sounds very coherent. (...) Everything is on a slow, spacious drift, highly musical, embedded within splashes of reverb and other treatments, and the result is slow, meandering, narrative music. Minimal yet evocative, reflective and with flickers of light. Your different kind of ambient album.
(Vital Weekly, February 2024)
Come d abitudine, Sun Comes - di nuovo per la label austriaca Klanggalerie - pesca tra le molteplici possibilità offerte in dote dalle più accessibili interpretazioni della musica contemporanea, flirtando scopertamente con le propaggini estreme di mondi limitrofi, imbastendo una pièce sfaccettata e mutevole grazie all abituale dose di azzardo che da sempre connota l approccio di Gordon H. Whitlow, mente e motore di questo act indefinibile.
(Music Map, February 2024)
Man kann diese Suite nur wenig mit Worten beschreiben, es ist eine ebenso großartige Komposition wie Klanginstallation und für mich als großer Fan von den Arbeiten Wrights mit den Legendary Pink Dots, Teargarden und Edward Ka-Spel ist das hier wirklich ein Highlight. Manche Passagen erinnern in Harmonie und Instrumentierung sehr stark und schön an Stücke der China Dolls-Alben Ka-Spels. Zum Ende hin gibt es dann noch eine Passage in der ein Harmonium die Klanglandschaft dominiert. Ich bin nur ein eingeschränkter Fan von Harmonium-Klängen, doch die Melodien und Atmosphären die hier damit erzeugt werden, sind einfach nur überwältigend schön.
(Handwritten Mag, April 2024)
In Sun Comes, Sorry For Laughing has created something that defies easy categorization. Its an album that demands patience and rewards it tenfold. For those willing to invest the time, it offers a rich, immersive experience that is as intellectually stimulating as it is emotionally resonant. Whitlow and his collaborators have crafted a work that is not just a collection of songs but a journey—a journey that, like life itself, is full of unexpected twists, fleeting moments of beauty, and the occasional struggle for redemption.
(Chain DLK, August 2024)
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