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#40433 06/26/11 06:01 PM
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Just to remind everyone of the exciting news that John's latest album Torn Sunset with Theo Travis is released officially tomorrow, June 27th.

It will be great to hear what you all think of it laugh


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Birdsong #40448 06/27/11 01:20 PM
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Received my copy of this beautiful album today after ordering late on Saturday. Good service from Townsend once the product is 'released'.

Will review in more detail later as I will need a few plays in the right atmosphere to fully appreciate


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Birdsong #40455 06/27/11 02:28 PM
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...From a Brighter Place offers more of a tropical rainforest atmosphere, almost but not quite dripping with birdsong and animal sounds. The melodies and fragmentation used here present a soundtrack as rich in biodiversity as this jungle, and ofttimes I have Philip Glass's Koyanisqaatsi score called to mind...


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Birdsong #40457 06/27/11 03:23 PM
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Great to be back online again.

On first listen I wasn't too impressed. It's not an album you can just stick on & maybe it'll improve when the mood & atmosphere around me is different.

Birdsong #40466 06/28/11 08:45 AM
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Probably true.

I'm in the enviable postion today of playing it thru the PA in my Victorian church. Like most of John's work in this genre, it sounds bl**dy amazing in this context.

Lots of delicate layering and subtle textures that fill a big space beautifully. Its quite easy to sit back and get lost in the music, imaging the building overgrown with vegatation and old sunlight filtering through the stained glass.

For me, because this is the stuff I like most of all, I'm thinking this is going to be a real gem of an album that I'll be playing quite a lot. I love also that its been released 'quietly' after the fanfare of Interplay and The Maths material and hasn't drawn a lot of media attention.

Mind you, that said, I'm keen to put them right!


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Birdsong #40507 06/29/11 02:01 PM
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It sounds "nice" from what I've heard online, although after Interplay, anything else almost pales in comparison at the moment. I'm not sure if this is for me or not (the cover artwork definitely is - do we have a similarly-themed booklet?). It concerns me it may have been released too soon after Interplay to get any worthwhile attention.

Over the last few years, in complete contrast to Martin's comments, I've come to realise, this is perhaps what I like least in John' cannon (not to say I dislike it, but my passion is really for his electro work).

But for a mere four Earth Pounds on Amazon...

Birdsong #40508 06/29/11 02:32 PM
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At four pounds you can't go wrong, but it does surprise me how little attention and praise John Foxx gets for 'this kind of thing'.
Considering Cathedral Oceans, Tiny Colour Movies, D.N.A., A Secret Life, My Lost City, Torn Sunset, Translucence, Drift Music etc its a heck of proportion of his work just to dismiss as 'nice'. None of it is very far from tracks like Glimmer etc and has been present from the beginning.

The intricate textures, effects and themes are common to a lot of his higher profile stuff and add considerably to my understanding of those pieces.

I think Foxx's 'work' is all about the 'wholeness' of it, and the Gestalt concept, so without this material some of that effect is lost. Just my opinion though of course

This forums always been about different tastes though, and its fascinating to discuss how we each see it differently


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Birdsong #40509 06/29/11 02:50 PM
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I think after Translucence & Drift Music, Tiny Colour Movies and the Cathedral Oceans trilogy, there hasn't been much new ground to cover. Just my own opinion on the matter, mind.

I appreciate the wholeness of John's work, but for many fans, they may question whether they need the entirety. For me, I would have otherwise been happy with just the above. I suspect that many people who bought Interplay (I'm talking the general consumer of Foxx newbie here), may not go for Torn Sunset. I didn't personally bother with Mirrorball it they held no interest to me, not being a fan of Robin Guthrie, and I felt DNA had an identity crisis - not quite TCM 2 but not quite something different enough to be refreshing.

So with my taste in mind, the prospect of a John Foxx album with flutes and melodic-blowy instruments on it, doesn't quite compute! That said, I'm curious about the direction of this piece and being so different, how and where it will fit in.

Anyway, I've still got a few days left of my Amazon Prime trial, so, I'd best get it ordered!

Birdsong #40510 06/29/11 02:56 PM
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It's ordered. Here tomorrow.

Birdsong #40511 06/29/11 04:14 PM
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Fair point well made.

Deuce!


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Birdsong #40542 06/30/11 07:03 PM
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Looking forward to hearing this. At the moment it is enough to look at it - stunning photography.

Birdsong #40548 07/01/11 09:23 AM
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Torn Sunset arrived yesterday.

Lovely booklet & imagery.

It's a curious listen; would fit perfectly alongside Translucence & Drift Music. John's piano is pretty much a continuation of what we heard on Translucence, the obvious difference being Theo Travis' atmospheric flute playing, often tinted with eastern colours and overall quite filmic.

Yet at the same time it's very ambient and abstract; minimal. Maybe overly so. After Lost Marilyn Molecule, it all blends into one, with no particular piece or melody to remember clearly – however with that in mind, the album almost works like one continuous piece. But for my ears it generally lacks the subtle variations needed to keep it interesting or offer anything significantly.

Given the overall similarity, it's hard to single out tracks, but I'd say the one that stood out the most for me was Skyscraper Starlight; it kind of picks up where Handheld Skies left off...

It's a pleasant album; the kind of thing to drift away in the background, whilst reading, working late at night or enjoying a glass of wine with a summer sunset. That is, assuming there's ever any proper summer to enjoy it with.

If anything, it takes that Translucence style into slightly warmer territory, but for me I'd leave it there.

Now, where's that Arp Odyssey….

Last edited by Alex S; 07/01/11 09:31 AM.
Birdsong #40549 07/01/11 10:31 AM
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I noted the same stand out track too.
Glad you like it.

Mx


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Birdsong #40557 07/02/11 04:42 PM
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Nighthawks and Torn Sunset finally arrived yesterday. It was a beautiful evening last night - a long drawn out sunset as I wandered down to Hoxton/Brick Lane to meet some friends. Both albums worked so well whilst on the journeys to and from home, Torn Sunset on the way there, Nighthawks on the way back.

Listening to them side by side, I was reminded of the Fennesz and Sakamoto album Cendre, one of my favourite albums of 2007 - especially Torn Sunset. And like Cendre, I think these albums will quietly work their way into my life for a long time to come.

Torn Sunset can't be listened to via a few samples. Get it - chill out and read a book to it, get out of the house and have a wander around to it - it'll slowly wrap itself around you soon enough.

Birdsong #40577 07/04/11 08:15 AM
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I've listened to both Torn Sunset and Nighthawks. With the long drawn outs evenings these have been excellent soundtracks. Both beautiful. Even my girlfriend likes Torn Sunset and she's not a big fan of instrumental music!! I will have to play her Nighthawks next and see if she like that too.

Birdsong #40617 07/08/11 08:52 AM
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it is all a bit "new age" (I blame the flute sounds) but it is all very nice and has a harmonic sophistication that puts it in a different league to the ones they play in garden centres wink
Anyways it was just what I needed to soothe my headache this morning

RadioBeach #40628 07/10/11 04:16 PM
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Originally Posted By: RadioBeach

Listening to them side by side, I was reminded of the Fennesz and Sakamoto album Cendre, one of my favourite albums of 2007 - especially Torn Sunset. And like Cendre, I think these albums will quietly work their way into my life for a long time to come.


Thanks for mentioning Cendre. While I wait for my new Foxx CDs to show up in the mail (delayed by a Canada Post labour dispute), I'll be giving Cendre a few listens. I liked the samples on emusic and bought a download. (I've tried a Fennesz or two in the past without really connecting with it, but this sounds like a very different proposition.)

Birdsong #40636 07/12/11 09:04 AM
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Keep trying with Torn Sunset, keep falling asleep.

Birdsong #40642 07/12/11 07:06 PM
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There are reviews of both this album and Nighthawks in the current issue of the Wire magazine (Issue 330)
Thanks to Garry for the information.

If anyone else comes across reviews in the media or online, please share the links so we can keep a record for the archive.

In the meantime, From A Brighter Place is the current soundtrack at Antonino Cardillo's website

Last edited by Birdsong; 07/12/11 07:08 PM.

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Birdsong #40659 07/15/11 10:23 AM
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It's not for me.

Birdsong #40670 07/16/11 01:40 AM
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With only one listen (it arrived today) it's too early to tell where this will end up in my personal ranking of John Foxx albums. It is undoubtedly fluty, and I am not a great fan of the sound of the flute, but the reverb and quiet tones and Foxxian shimmer got me through.

I read something about Harold Budd once, I think, that talked about how one of the dividing lines between ambient (which I love) and newage (which I emphatically don't) is that ambient tends to be austere or subtle while newage goes for the pretty, sugary, and slick. As I recall, the context was a review of Budd's album The White Arcades. The critic thought that album saw Budd teetering on the verge of succumbing to the pretty vagueness of newage. (I could see his point, but I liked the album well enough anyway.)

The point of that digression being that I found some sparseness and subtlety in Torn Sunset. It's not isolationist (a state A Secret Life approaches) but it stands a fair chance of revealing itself to be another solid Foxx ambient album.

(Random side note: Billy Currie should listen to A Secret Life and the Foxx/Budd albums, because his instrumental solo albums could stand to have a few layers of sound pared away.)

Last edited by Steve Roby; 07/16/11 01:44 AM.
MemberD #40726 07/22/11 12:57 PM
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Originally Posted By: MemberD
Keep trying with Torn Sunset, keep falling asleep.


I know what you mean! I've only managed to get three tracks in so far without feeling drowsy!

I don't know if it's just the flute that's doing it, but it really does seem very "new age" and disturbingly like the background music on a hypnosis CD. I keep expecting a reassuring deep voice to suddenly appear telling me to relax and visualise a soothing white light enveloping my body!

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