Away — Cities
Although each member of the “classic” line-up brought very distinct qualities to the band, the drummer (and only constant member), Away, had the added virtue of being responsible for all of Voivod’s incredibly distinctive artwork. This really was a key element in their identity, defining them as being on a more idiosyncratic path than their generic metal counterparts. Indeed, a beautiful new drawing by Away adorns his solo debut on Utech - but, to my genuine sadness, thats where the positive words must end.
“Cities”, according to the label press release, is “an experience in travel via sound”; and accordingly, its constructed entirely from field recordings made on Away’s travels - in his own words: “I’ve always been fascinated by field recordings, tape collage and musique concrète.”. This creates a somewhat painful dilemma… At the risk of appearing incredibly patronising, we have to assume that Away knows what he’s doing, but has an “unusual” take on “field recordings, tape collage and musique concrète” - because the alternative is that he has a very primitive, underdeveloped notion indeed. Put simply, the vast bulk of the material on “Cities” is field recordings of music and musicians; to be blunter, the bulk of it is quite possibly recordings of buskers and street performers. This is not traditionally a source of great sounds, and indeed most of these are of very little interest to the ear at all. More often than not, Away’s recordings put the “music” at the forefront of the sound-field; where actually it might be more advantageous to concentrate more on the surrounding sounds. For instance, there’s a section of flute at the start of the first piece, “Montreal 2010”, and the interesting quality there is the natural reverb - not the flute itself. This passage is then followed by a recording of (what sounds like) a folky “oompah” band, which just fades up underneath the flute with really very little musical “quality” - theres no sense of the two sections interacting in any sense. This is the modus operandi for most of the album: recordings are layered and collaged; but with precious little dynamic, direction or development. As far as I can tell, there’s no overt processing (eq-ing accepted) to be heard on “Cities”; recordings are simply presented as recorded - so its a pretty rigorous, monochrome listen. The press release talks of “Literal and metaphorical “found music”…: the booming stereo of a passing car or distant church bells…the rhythmic engine hum of a bus or the chirping of birds”; and although these elements are somewhat hidden on the album, there is an entire track essentially constructed out of recordings of riots and demonstrations in Montreal, 2012. But the overwhelming feeling is that we are simply listening to a succession of very short recordings of instruments in public places. Nothing more, nothing less.
Its not utterly irredeemable. There are a few nice sections of source material: some quiet bells and tinkling on “Europe 2012”, and many of the “riot” recordings on “Montreal 2012”; and indeed “Chicago 2012” builds up quite a maelstrom, with what sounds like multiple orchestras tuning up, till its all ended by a “shush”. But the fact remains that it does overwhelmingly feel like a series of short recordings, just tagged together. Away rarely settles on one sound or recording for any length of time, and there’s no real sense of development or getting to grips with the recordings as source material. As a musician myself, who travels with a field recorder, I can see how this album works as a very brilliant, narrative-driven, audio-diary; but an audio-diary only of real interest to Away himself, alas.