Oliver Coates Throb shiver arrow of time [ARTPL-223] Japan Music CD

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Synopsis Oliver Coates' "Throb, Shiver, Arrow of Time" is a gateway to physical light and shadow, illuminated by the embers of incomplete memories, stained with the smoke of inner reverberations, and expanding in a vast, fairytale-like dimension. His previous album, "Skins N Slime," topped ele-king's year-end best-of list! Praised by renowned artists such as Radiohead, Actress, Laurel Halo, Jonny Greenwood, Mila Calix, and Mica Levi, Oliver Coates, a cellist/composer/producer from the Royal Academy of Music and the London Contemporary Orchestra, releases his third album on RVNG Intl. This is his third album overall. In this work, Coates offers a capsule of personal resonances and memories gathered over the past six years, tracing the metallic structures and viscous string modulations familiar from his 2020 album "skins n slime," while nurturing his inner impulses following a series of acclaimed scoring projects, including the films "Aftersun" (Charlotte Wells, 2022), "The Stranger" (Thomas M. Wright, 2022), and "Occupied City" (Steve McQueen, 2023). While working on "Aftersun," Wells asked Coates how to let music know that someone is pulling up memories. This question has stayed with him ever since, pulsating throughout the record. Coates says "Throb, shiver, arrow of time" is "an inaccurate transmission from memory, layered with emotions from other sources." This release blends the pain and brilliance of memories, with dissonant whispers of misremembered memories obscured by a strange mass of emotion. At its core is the seventh track, "Shopping centre curfew," a swift yet cavernous piece born when two real-world events from five years ago during the pandemic lockdown in South London merged in a dream: the demolition of the Elephant & Castle shopping center and a discussion of the possibility of a nighttime curfew for all men after a violent crime. There's a strange simultaneity to the song, and Coates builds the album from it, refracting the convulsive shimmer of a sense of temporal entropy into a clear sonic topology. In the album's ten tracks, weightless melodies soar, leaping over a gradient of expanded and compressed afterimages. The misty tones of "Please be normal" and "90" soar, softening the tremors of the internal acoustic chaos immersed in a drone. The album features vocal calls from longtime collaborators Malibu and chrysanthemum bear, as well as the shimmering, floating synth sounds of Faten Kanaan. This work further expands Coates' reach by breaking down the digital into the analog, or vice versa, rearranging materials through accidental coincidences, and pushing the boundaries of planarity. This sculptural approach to sound is deeply influenced by the complex installations of artist Sarah Sze, who permutes visual materials with their own afterimages, forming kaleidoscopic epitaphs of transience and emotion. Coates' thoughts on Sze's work and process flowed alongside his own performance and editing techniques, layering the textures of live takes onto the composition, allowing sound to succumb to its own dreams. Coates explains: "The cello is a kind of melancholic instrument with a light, airy spirit. I try to further enhance that quality by digitally flattening the sound, shifting the frequencies, and stretching time. Sometimes I distance myself from it, becoming a discarded fragment imbued with soul?downsampling. Or I try to make the most of the present tense in the act of playing, and disintegrate its vibrant colors into sounds that are like polished copies of those vibrant colors. So the music weathers the listener like the weather, or acts like flames licking the sides of an object." As the record unfolds, the compositions lengthen, and the granular shimmer of the finale, "Make it happen," persists in an almost violent joy. "I don't want to let go of this album, and I try to resist the sounds that fade away at the end of the music, push the colors beyond the limits of structure, and break the silence." In his struggle to defy the ending, Coates briefly interrupts the arrow of time that continues its eternal flight, revealing the comfort of dust that sinks into the afterglow. Media reviews and more Oliver Coates' 'Throb, shiver, arrow of time' is a gateway to bodily light and shadow, illuminated by the embers of incomplete memory, stained with the smoke of inner echoes, and expanding in vast, fairytale-like dimensions. Oliver Coates, a cellist/composer/producer from the Royal Academy of Music and the London Contemporary Orchestra, has received praise from renowned artists such as Radiohead, Actress, and Laurel Halo, as well as participating in soundtracks produced by Jonny Greenwood, collaborating with Mila Calix, and releasing co-productions with Mica Levi. His previous album was ranked number one on ele-king magazine's annual best-of list. This is his third album from RVNG Intl. (C)RS