| Artist |
| The Glimmer Room |
| Title |
| I Remain |
| Format/Cat |
| CD A-FRAME 012 |
| Label |
| A-Frame Media |
| Style |
| Electronica |
| Date of review |
| 11th July 2010 |
| Reviewer |
| Carl Jenkinson |
| Rating |
| 8/10 |
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This latest offering from The Glimmer Room AKA Andy Condon takes its inspiration from nuclear arms &, judging by the abstract/industrial images that grace the cover, nuclear power. If that suggests to you that this is going to be a dark & uncompromising piece of work then prepare to eat that humble pie as this is an emotive, haunting & often quite beautiful offering, almost a lament for the beauty of the natural world that the power of the atom could so easily destroy (the chilled-out electronica of the accompanying DVD video is something of a surprise, however!) Divided into nine tracks but best listened to as one complete entity 'I Remain' continues the excellent work of his previous releases (most notably the excellent The Grey Mirrors) as the sound of rain leads the way into a stunningly beautiful opener, it certainly won't leave you unmoved as the music ebbs & sways through a number of different yet similar 'scenes' while maintaining that all-important cohesive edge & while the middle sections display a decidedly more upbeat edge, the underlying percussive effects providing an effective contrast to what has gone before, the latter sections up the emotive ante still further courtesy of some superb piano work & when the epic strings, backed by some appropriately stately percussion, take the lead during the very last section your heart is sure to melt; it's certainly a fittingly beautiful end to a superb piece of music.
The debt that this superb album owes to certain American synthesists from the 80s cannot be ignored nor denied (I was reminded of Steve Roach's Dreamtime Return on a couple of occasions while other sections such as the decidedly brighter mid-section, are reminiscent of the music of Patrice DeVincentis) while lovers of John Foxx's Cathedral Oceans will also find much to love here but the fact remains that Andy constantly equals the high standards set by such august names, making this another recommended offering from this criminally-underated musician.
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