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Album Reviews
Album Review: Floored Memory… Fading Location (FatCat/130701)
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 23 February 2009
Released via FatCat’s 130701 imprint, ‘Floored Memory… Fading Location’ comprises of eleven songs, one from each of the imprint’s previous releases, and three previously unreleased tracks. It takes in the works of the four artists on the roster, who share an aesthetic desire that eliminates the need for vocal manipulation of emotion, save for the odd spoken word, instead letting the instrumentation craft the emotion. It is gracefully done, with a delicacy and brittleness that is warranted by the choice of instruments. Set Fire To Flames, a collective of Montreal musicians, including members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, have only two songs on the compilation. Opener ‘Steal Compass/Drive North/Disappear’ sets the scene wonderfully; being such a brooding and emotional calculating piece it plays to the central theme behind ‘Floored Memory… Fading Location’, that of loss and decay. Max Richter’s delicate compositions progress the autumnal theme, bringing with it the gravitas that comes with traditional classical instruments and style. Sylvia Chauveau’s articulation of loss and decay is simply a sparse, mournful piano and is surely the darkest thing on the record. Conversely Hauschka, a composer based in Düsseldorf, throws in lighter sounds and a broken, rustling form of percussion. Hauschka is freer, and his styling more varied and wistful yet still conveys the power and emotive edge that is common within the 130701 roster. If ‘Floored Memory… Fading Location’ is an attempt to capture in a sentimental and soulful way the transience of life then it has certainly succeeded. SJS
