Bing And Ruth, Joshua Van Tassel, Tim Cr — Backward Music Vol.1
The CD brings together eight tracks in just over half an hour to showcase music to be released on the label and begins with a short introductory drone piece by Bing and Ruth, an 11-peice ensemble led by composer and pianist David Moore, a 29-year-old composer and multi-instrumentalist, which is closely followed by the first of three tracks by Joshua Van Tassel, a percussionist from Nova Scotia.
‘Holy War’ begins with birdsong and chiming notes which are soon joined by down tempo beats and vibes as a haunting synth melody appears. There is some nice solid drumming from Van Tassel, as might be expected and the song moves along ethereally reminding me to some extent of Enigma. Van Tassels next piece is ‘Bottom of the Well’ which begins with shoegazing piano which is joined by more downbeat rhythms on processed percussion then acoustic guitars enter with a majestic refrain. It’s all a bit New Age but ends nicely with some distorted notes to add an edge.
Final song is the jaunty hoedown that is ‘Sneaky Beard’, an up-tempo dance number featuring violin and some great rattling percussive breaks.
The next artist up is Tim Crabtree, originally from Burnley in England but now resident in Canada. His first piece, ‘Wish you Were’ is an acoustic guitar piece very reminiscent of the kind of folky instrumentals Jimmy Page did with Led Zeppelin. It’s a melancholy piece but in its own way uplifting too. Second and last track by Crabtree is ‘Renamed’ which has a synthetic backdrop over which crystalline piano sparkles. The mood is downbeat until some glitch rhythms appear which initially don’t appear to fit but then become almost techno until ending abruptly.
Third group in the trilogy are Bing and Ruth, a project featuring an ensemble led by David Moore. The two pieces here, ignoring the 38 second introduction mentioned above, are nice pieces of pastoral folk, evoking the ghosts of early Pink Floyd on ‘and then it rained’ which features female vocals and reeds and then conjures up the Penguin Café Orchestra on ‘Rails’ which starts with handclaps which are joined by hypnotic piano in the style of Philip Glass before becoming quite jazzy as the bass line becomes more pronounced.
In conclusion then, this is an agreeable sampler for those who like downbeat ambient instrumentals with a slight edge which stops them falling into bland, New Age territory. It can be used for relaxation but also rewards more serious listening.