Brendan Perry - ARK

    Brendan Perry – Ark

    28 Nov

    By

    Artist: Brendan Perry – Ark
    Genre: Electronic, Folk, World, & Country
    Style: Folk, Ethereal, Ambient
    Year: 2010

    Sonic Planetariums
    Harking back – 23.09.2012 I climbed a mountain in Athens with 6,000 odd mad Greeks and Philhellenes to reach the ancient Lycabettus theatre.

    Mount Lycabettus, also known as Lycabettos, Lykabettos or Lykavittos, is a Cretaceous limestone hill in the Greek capital Athens. At 277 meters above sea level, its summit is the highest point in Central Athens and pine trees cover its base. At its peak is a natural amphitheatre which has seen “rock” acts since Adam was a boy – literally!

    Two dear friends had called and said I must detour via Athens on one of my musical journeys as they had a present for me. As a staunch philhellene I leapt at the opportunity (actually I had a broken tibia in my left leg but could hop instead) and jumped on a flight from New York to London then limped on to a commuter flight Electronics (forgive my puns on ambulation) to meet up with Demetris and Fanis of Ypsilon.

    Rumen of Thrax Audio was already there, and we all met up for a late dinner in a local taverna. It was a dinner where napkin sketches and circuit diagrams were flurrying between authors as the retsina and rakia flowed.

    The evening air was warm and inviting and as many of you may know Greeks do some of their best work late at night – politically speaking.

    Demetris said “Mark, here you are. I have a ticket to see Dead Can Dance tomorrow night”. I was elated as I have played their albums for many years at shows since George Secher (a huge influence on my musical journey) had introduced me to their solemn art decades before.

    So after some discomfort getting up the hill I rested and awaited the music to commence. To say the atmosphere was electric would have been an understatement. If the ghosts of times past could have spoken they would have whispered “sonny boy, you in for a treat”.

    Fans of DCD would know Balkan influences are strong and instrumentation deeply connected to folk tradition. Brendan Perry is one half of the talent in DCD and has strong roots to Greek culture as a former immigrant to Australia – during one of the strong exoduses of talent from Greece to Australia and Commonwealth lands.

    Lesser known is Brendan’s solo work during periods where his partnership with Lisa Gerard was geographically and musically separate.

    The solo ‘Ark’ album predates the re-joining of the partnership in Athens for Anastasis their 2012 studio album, 16 years after the group's last album ‘Spiritchaser’.

    So Mark, what’s your point? Why the long history lesson on DCD? Stay with me.

    So in comparison to climbing a mountain with a broken leg, finding a reasonably priced copy on LP of the ARK (Double Album) is even harder. They can fetch up to $1500 easily if you can get someone to part with their copy.

    For many (myself included) finding Ark is often down to luck or serendipity. I tell my friends just keep looking like I did (thank you Discogs!!).

    Once onboard the Ark you will enter a sonic planetarium with a deep wide soundstage with cavernous ricochets of layered percussion and synthesizer sequences sweeping panoramically over a driving drone bass rhythms exercising woofers to their maximum.

    Ark is the work of a master. From start to finish it provides an escape vehicle out beyond Sirius into galactic spaces. It offers personal and political insight lyrically but underpins those thoughtful words with melody that’s hard to pin down to any one particular genre. It crosses many divides.

    I could go through each track but there are lots of micro analyses on review sites. For me “Utopia” and the “The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” are phenomenal compositions. You can play these over and over and discover more each time. When a producer has to fade out a track when the artist is on a roll it is a sign that the work could have been extended on another format (one day we might find the Director’s Cut…).

    The closing track is the epic “Crescent” which echoes into Brendan’s DCD rejuvenation on the Anastasis album which was what became audible to the cosmos on top of Athens that warm sultry night in 2012.

    Coming down off that mountain, I was on a high (all natural I might add) in 2012. Get onboard the Ark on any night of the week – when you step off, you’ll be on cloud nine.

    Brendan Perry’s ‘Ark’ is a masterpiece and I can’t recall anything recent which has eclipsed its special status in my collection. As I write this, I’m listening with my son on the reference Ypsilon Electronics into Wilson Benesch Eminence Speakers driven by a Koestu Blue Lace / Reed / Helix combo. We are both onboard totally mesmerised.

    Hunt it down and come on an escape with your fellow mariners.

    Track listing

    • Babylon 6:08
    • The Bogus Man 6:11
    • Wintersun 6:02
    • Utopia 5:55
    • Inferno 6:37
    • This Boy 6:59
    • The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea 7:35
    • Crescent 9:35
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