Back cover of “…of the Adder’s Bite”
A copy of this fine newly released CD was kindly sent to me for review a few months ago. First of all I must say that my delay in writing this review is due in large part to my difficulty in attempting to categorize my experience of the music. This is a very individual statement by a young musician from Greece, Panagiotis Pagonis (1989- ) who goes by the name, ‘Abstractive Noise‘ and whose work seems to be inspired by drone, minimalism, ambient, rock and perhaps classical sources as well as experimental literary narrative.
This is a self-produced concept album created in the composer’s own studio and it can only be properly appreciated over several close listenings. I would categorize this release as “experimental” though not wanting to scare anyone away because this disc makes for a comfortable listening experience, not the cacophonous assault that is sometimes encountered with the term “experimental”.
That said, the music develops slowly and requires some patience to appreciate the logic of its unfolding processes. The experimental literary narrative which is appended in the liner notes may be useful to some listeners but I did not connect with the mythological romantic fantasy nature of the narrative except that it provides some clue as to the passionate nature of the composer/performer and his inspiration. But don’t take my lack of connection as a negative critique. It is merely the personal experience of a fifty something reviewer listening to the product of an emerging young composer.
As you can see in the above photograph of the back cover and the photograph below of the unfolded package the cover art is quite beautiful and does seem to reflect some of the nature of the music within. It has a dark quality imbued with mystery and perhaps longing. It is a hybrid of musical styles which flows quite naturally from the composer’s pen (or perhaps more properly, from the composer’s various electronic processing programs which are, for many, replacing the traditional pen and paper).
unfolded view of ‘Abstractive Noise’s’ album
I am listening to it now as I write this belated review and finding that the music continues to take on deeper dimensions with repeated listens. It can actually work as well in a close listening as one would ideally do with a classical composition or in the background setting a mood. It is very well recorded with obvious careful thought put into the mastering which definitely adds to the quality of the listening experience. It is available through the composer’s web site as well as through Bandcamp.
It’s not the sort of CD I would put on my car stereo but it works very well in my living room as an accompaniment to writing or just sitting.
I know very little of this young artist’s background or future plans but I look forward to more from this musician.
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