shadows of reindeer - part one

so, to begin my efforts in detailing the various strands that have occupied my time these past two moons, might i begin with turning attention towards the wonderful new video which bhopal created for the 'shadows of reindeer' song collaboration between myself and the mighty AbSUrd for his debut album 'close to distantly', which we released on decorative stamp last autumn. the video is something of an astonishing psychedelic treat indeed, perfectly capturing the feel and strangeness of the song itself. do be sure to have repeated viewings to catch all of the wonderful layers of detail which bhopal has assembled for this marvelous project.

however. since we are here, might i also take a moment to make further discourse surrounding this piece, or at least the musical aspect, of which i can consider myself to be a co-authority. working with AbSUrd is always something of a ritualistic experience for me. since first hearing his work, specifically since first hearing 'bird irony sleeps' from the debut murmur breeze release, i have felt myself regularly swept up in the beautifully psychedelic meditative space he creates with his work, and how in continual waves the music helps take the mind to strange alternate lands, to such vivid degrees that all one needs to do is put pen to paper and how the words come with such ease. automatic writing at the hand of his music.

still, even by AbSUrd's standards 'shadows of reindeer' was a strange beast indeed. its curiously awkward instrumentation, its heavy lumbering beat, the irregular timing of the drops, the wonderfully enigmatic string lines, that feeling that it might perhaps come apart in one hands under close scrutiny; a wonderfully peculiar piece which lead the mind into a dark spiral of imagery, like burroughs' penny arcade peepshow, projections on four walls of increasingly more surreal and bizarre imagery, with the instrument set painting images of middle-eastern and far eastern lands. my motivation for this track simply to put into words the images which swamped my conscious with each new listen.

another wonderful aspect i find to AbSUrd's work is the perfect sense of freedom in feeling that anything and everything goes, both in turns of AbSUrd's own wonderful trust he bestows on his writers to take the words in any direction they wish, but also in knowing that any listener who is eagerly digesting his music will surely be an adept listener enough to digest so very much more than a few sixteen bars verses and a chorus too on the sermon of simple hip hop. to that end, the lyric sheet for this track is completely uncensored, as i allowed myself the joy of not editing a single line for fear of being too esoteric or simply too 'out there'. to that end, it is perhaps currently the most abstracted song in my humble catalogue, but one that i think thrives rather than suffers for it.

so, before i conclude this small piece, might i again strongly suggest that you allow yourself the time to digest this video once more, and that you investigate or continue to investigate the 'close to distantly' album in its entirety, not to mention both the first and second murmur breeze outings, and that you keenly anticipate future releases from the mighty AbSUrd, including his production work for the forthcoming coffin cutters album as well as the almost still secret talks of our own collaboratory album together. much strange and beautiful music on the horizon indeed.

keep warm, take care

jamesreindeer