Knox Chandler may not be a household name, but over the years, he has played guitar for some very famous artists, including Siouxie And The Banshees and The Psychedelic Furs. He has also worked with other artists, including R.E.M., Depeche Mode, and Grace Jones.

The Sound (Blue Elastic) is Chandler’s debut solo release, and it is accompanied by an art book (which I have not had access to). Together, the audio and visual elements are said to document Chandler’s move from an urban environment to a rural one, residing as he now does in New Haven, Connecticut.

The Sound is an entirely instrumental affair and is based around Chandler’s somewhat mysterious “soundribbons” technique of creating soundscapes, developed during his time living in Berlin.

The music here is textural and cinematic. Every piece is based around what sound like synthesizer pads, but are in fact Chandler’s “soundribbons.” Thick reverb-laden beds of sound are punctuated by bursts of guitar and often underpinned by double bass and percussion. The mood is often meditative and contemplative, but there is also sometimes an unsettling feeling as off-kilter guitar lines slightly jar with what might otherwise be serene ambience. In places, the music even takes a dark and menacing turn, as grinding percussion bursts out of the layers of sonic texture. Echoes of Brian Eno and Bill Frisell are apparent as the textures gradually morph and avant-garde Jazz guitar lines rise up out of the sonic wash.

In amongst the dense soundscapes, there are several standout moments when the listener is perhaps pulled out from tranquility and invited to sit up and listen. The driving percussion and double bass grooves in the middle of “Tea Stained Edge” are trance-inducing as deliciously weird chiming guitar chords provide harmonic interest. The quasi-industrial metallic percussion at the beginning of “Lost Dusk Feather” sounds like some kind of unearthly factory at work. The mysterious and hypnotic 10/4 rhythms around the middle of “Hidden Hammock Pond,” replete with a catchy bass riff and effect-laden guitar parts, are almost danceable. “Branch” heads into fully avant-garde territory with its delightfully odd and atonal guitar stabs.

With The Sound, Knox Chandler has created a spacious work of experimental ambience that invites the listener to get lost in its myriad layers. The record presents a rich sonic journey that for fans of ambient experimental music will be well worth embarking upon.

Buy the album here:
https://knoxchandler.bandcamp.com/album/the-sound-2

8 / 10
DUNCAN EVANS
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