Edward Sol — Pinkballs
Chocolate Monk presents a new live full-length from long-running Ukrainian experimental artist, Edward Sol. I quite enjoyed the last album I reviewed of Mr. Sol, Sun Storm Rampage, so I was much looking forward to giving this one a spin.
The CD-r comes in a folded cardstock cover, housed in a vinyl sleeve. The art features a semi pixelated naked woman, though covered by illustrations of hot-air balloons. The cover is full color, though done in muted pastel tones. It’s tasteful and has a 60’s vibe to it. The CD-r, in DIY fashion, is decorated with pink spray paint.
Pinkballs is a 35 minute journey into a sound collage of various tape loops and minimal electronics; recorded live in 2011 at an art center in the Ukraine. As with Sun Storm Rampage, Pinkballs is a superbly captured audio document. I’m typically not a huge fan of live albums, but Edward Sol’s live recordings seem to always be of excellent fidelity. The half hour long track starts off with a warbly loop of a woman singing with more loops of added with sounds of crackling (fire?) and a man speaking over radio static. Dense atmospheric shifts, tape manipulation, and some wobbly synth sounds become present. Sounds replace sounds replace sounds in succession. I could give a play by play, but that might turn into a page turner. Reverberating synths, sounds from a children’s program, static crackle, and a myriad of other sounds make their presence known over the course of the track. At around the 13 minute mark there's a precipitous increase in volume that took me slightly of guard, but after a quick adjustment on my part I’m back in the zone. Were those Star Wars tie-fighters I heard? Two-thirds in are some interesting synth squeals and what sounds like a piece of machinery churning away, which then segueways into a longer sequence of heavier synth sounds. The track finishes on a quieter note with an ambient passage along with some field recordings of birds and cracking.
Pinkballs is another solid release from Mr. Sol. I’d be interested in hearing some of his studio material in the future as all my experiences with this artist has been his live recordings. In due time I’m sure. Till then I’ve got this release to keep me content.