Water Still Flows
is the fourth long-player from multi-instrumentalist and sound sculptor
Michael Rich Ruth
; it's his second for
Third Man
.
Ruth
plays guitars, bass, synths, and handles the sampling. His session players include drummer
Reuben Gingrich
, psychedelic harpist
Mikaela Davis
, saxophonist
Sam Que
(who appears on five tracks,
Jarad Steiner
appears on the final cut), pedal steel player
Spencer Cullum
, violinist
Patrick M'Gonigle
, and
Travis Vance
, who plays fretless bass on the last cut.
's reputation for labyrinthine ambient and dark ambient is well founded.
alters that profile without abandoning it. The album was composed while touring for two years. During breaks, he'd record experimental drones that provided impressions of fully fleshed compositions. He also got immersed in the recordings of black and doom metal from
Carcass
,
Obituary
Darkthrone
Boris
Earth
Sleep
. In addition, he acquired many vintage fuzz pedals and unusual amplifiers, and learned how to multi-track down-tuned guitars, combining their sounds with samples, synths, and sequencers. He sent his recorded ideas to his collaborators to figure out their own parts.
's compositional method involves casting in the dark for inspiration and not telling his musicians what to play. Individually and collectively, the tracks come across as suite-like in construction, introduced by themes that move far afield and transform as the music unfolds yet remain somehow unified.
Opener "Action at a Distance" offers blissful new age drones on keys, harp, and treated saxophones. A vamp-like melody appears, sounding like the chorus from a forgotten 1960s-era TV theme, as synths and pulsing Mellotron shift the melody and
Gingrich
deliberately plays
Keith Moon
's breaks from "We Won't Get Fooled Again." Synths, saxes, sonically treated harp, and a whining pedal steel guitar add to the flow, at once enveloping yet nearly hummable. The single "Crying in the Trees" melds piano and bells before
Davis
' harp claims the fore and
adds restrained, doomy guitar, playing call-and-response with
and
Que
's soprano before the drums thud in, adding heft, and dark textures. As the jam progresses,
gets more animated with slamming fills and breaks.
's tenor begins to bleat, balancing drums and electronics with a free modal solo. "God Won't Speak" begins with samples of Indian percussion, low-end electronics, and limpid violin. Saxophones, synths, and lilting harp color the backdrop. Halfway through, subtle yet complex reed melodies and pedal steel lead the instruments and sampled choral vocals until the crescendo of low-tuned guitars, bass, and distortion. The single "No Muscle No Memory" pairs a sequenced harmonic pattern with guitar breaks; the vamp remains static throughout and buoyed with wandering exploratory tenor solo from
, followed by
until the jam increases in tension and density.
plays nasty, doomy guitar patterns. There isn't a middling moment on
. It is at once forceful in its multiple dimensions while tempering the aggression with languid, even limpid restraint among all players. Highly recommended. ~ Thom Jurek