Broken Harbour — Gramophone Transmissions
The first track "Drift" is a tape loop of Debussy or something similar, with an open, nautical feel that fits the name Broken Harbour. The 3 repeating chords are filled with hope, but also longing, and a summative finality, like a sunset. People like Biosphere or Wolfgang Voigt (with his Gas project) have sailed these waters before, suspending a single moment of classical music in order to prolong and distill its emotion. This track is certainly successful, though not quite as deep or inexplicable as the best moments of Gas.
The album is wholly texturally wonderful, the soundspace pleasantly liquid and resonant. The organ tone in "The Ballad of Dave Bowman pt. 2" is a shimmering sweetness, light glinting off the surface of the ocean, and it's a heartwrenching moment when it is joined by a muffled vocal chorus (likely a synth).
Starting with the 4th track "Titan", he moves in a spacier, darker direction, but mostly stays within the hauntingly beautiful realm of Debussy, with string textures remaining at least somewhat evident. The music brings to mind images of lighthouses, dense fog and midnight watches. "Maelstrom" is the most intense, complete and immersive track on the album, and also the longest at 16:26, but the murky eerieness that dominates this part of the record makes for a strange and not entirely satisfying conclusion.
Ultimately, Gibson does not quite match the scope, sophistication, and depth of protracted narrative achieved by his influences, and at times I wonder if he has brought enough new elements to the table. The pieces do not seem as closely interrelated as in the case of either of Stars' double disk opuses, and the music is sometimes very minimal in a way that feels underdeveloped. Still, "Gramophone Transmissions" is an emotionally stirring piece of work at times, and has a few tracks I wouldn't want to go without.