The Art Of Whisper is the special new collaborative album by Wonderful Beasts who are made up of the artists boycalledcrow (high priest of the sonic spheres) and Xqui (experimental artist and remixer).
The album is twelve tracks of differing textures and sounds combining to make the first journey into the world of this new collaboration. The pair had a unique (yet typically experimental for these artists) approach to creating their sonic chemistry. Tracks were constructed by boycalledcrow, before the music stems were digitally forwarded to Xqui who then reconstructed them without listening to the original track.
‘Heavy Gaze’ opens the album and very much sets the tone. It has chilled out beats and sounds, coupled with gentle field recording samples reminiscent of Radiohead. Follow up ‘I Fell Into A Dream’ has more earthy and dreamlike sounds mingling with some Kraftwerk inspired electronica.
‘I Fell Into Another Dream’ is filled to the brim with beautiful piano and ambient soundscapes as is ‘Love Her’ with its dreamlike Brian Eno esque blissed out collage.
‘My Old Guitar’ has some nice thick and gloopy electronica that eventually evolves into the gentle and gorgeous ambience that has gone before. ‘She Is The Melody Man’ is the penultimate track on this intriguing release and it is a track that successfully blends gentle tribal drumming with tender electronica.
Across the twelve tracks the due of Wonderful Beasts are able to successfully straddle the fine line between experimentation and accessibility. The substantial soundscapes that the pair are able to produce is remarkable when reminded of how the album was constructed. In these dark and uncertain times, this release is just what is needed. It is unassuming and occasionally reflects some type of drama, but more than anything, it has an overwhelming feeling of solace which that alone make me highly recommend this LP.
Of the album, boycalledcrow says “My inspiration came in the early hours of mornings when my baby daughter was awake and feeding. Often I found myself unable to sleep so I made music for hours and often forgot about it.”
Xqui found the re-assembling process incredibly cathartic. “The stems that boycalledcrow supplied were simple but often gorgeous. I found the different parts like a musical jigsaw that fell into place with every extra piece I inserted.”
The result is The Art of Whisper which will be available on very limited cd and digital download via the incredibly prolific micro net label Wormhole World.
Review by Ioan Humphries