musicAddicted

Kyle Bobby Dunn is a relentless and highly prolific composer working across the interlinked areas of contemporary classical, minimalist, ambient and even drone music. After last year’s A Young Person’s Guide (review in Slovak language), which compiled certain part of his work and Rural Route No. 2, limited EP which was “an eulogy to the freedom of subconscious dreams and mirages,” Dunn’s back with another full-length. On Ways Of Meaning he evolves a concept of choral music (mainly materialized by church organ) paired with ambient drone based on manipulated guitar and bass. This play with contrasts between the monumental and intimate, highly harmonious versus atonal, stable against floating, is beautifully evolved across seven minutes of Canyon Meadows. Since the name already suggests pastoral theme (searching for a calm and harmony in nature, probably), the visions of idyllic nature are unavoidable. Canyon Meadows utilizes celebratory, grandiose mood with rich textures that pulse, emerge and hush down. When listening to those floating harmonies echoing from every corner of the church, Julianna Barwick’s outstanding The Magic Place comes to mind. Whereas Julianna builds that magic, idyllic atmosphere through layering her coos, Dunn reaches it through the diversity of bass oscillating around the airy organ. Canyon Meadows sounds as if the organ was singing that stable melody and had the same pleasure of it as humans have.

Ways Of Meaning is out on May 3rd via Desire Path Recordings & my review comes very soon.