Review: E GONE - Advice To Hill Walkers

Damn, this guy just gets better and better!! After last year's wonderful 'All The Suns Of The Earth' with it's broad canvas of musical styles and approaches, and the 'Smokediver' EP from earlier this year, full of beautiful eastern vibes and drone, E GONE has released his latest, 'Advice To Hill Walkers' and it is another out-of-the-park winner!! It takes its cue from 'Smokediver' but expands upon the drone content, and the eastern feel is still to the fore. 'Advice....',however, is a more ambitious,a more conceptual piece of work from a stylistic genius who has a genuine feel for experimental music that eschews the more discordant, abrasive aspect that the word experimental sometimes portrays, instead focussing on the juxtaposition of ideas and instrumentation to achieve an opus that challenges whilst maintaining a level of beauty and charm.

Built loosely around the titular concept, the album "Offers useful advice before and/or while partaking in any form of mountaineering" with the track titles themselves as a guide. "Mark The Spot Where You Leave The Injured" is a hauntological foray into wind swept vistas, a single drone over layed with a simple, but effective, refrain on what sounds like a harmonium. Only 2 minutes or so in length but paves the way for what is to come. "Your Goal Is To Know Everything And say Nothing" takes us down the road to some repetitive folk, more stringed instruments being plucked and the simple, single drumbeat and again some lovely drone. The melody is part eastern but with a definite eastern european touch. The layers of instrumentation are staggering; there is so much going on in what, on the face of it, is a simple tune and that makes for a deep, rich listening experience. "Follow Moonmilk Rivers" is more overtly eastern in texture and sound. It transports the listener to exotic, far-flung places, you can almost smell the incense. "Build Your Camp Out Of Alpine Moss" is built on an oscillating drone underlying a melody that could have come straight from a sixties spy drama. Swathes of electronica build to give a spacey effect and the track builds to an atmospheric soundtrack. There are definite hauntological touches, the track has that nostalgic feel about it, but stills sounds fresh and contemporary. "Dwell In Tents By Day, Hike At Random By Night" is built on a single guitar, verging on surf in sound, and organ playing some more sixties lounge. Again it is the additional touches and flourishes that make the track, electronic squiggles and swirls adding depth and texture. "Find New Methods for Compass Use" begins with crashing thunder and torrential rain, immediately setting up a foreboding atmosphere, which is accentuated by an organ drone cutting through the precipitation. The monotonous drone seems endless and one can feel one's pulse racing as though expecting the worst, such is the sense of dread. "Bring Ice Axe And Rope" again takes on a hauntological aspect, the percussion and effects over another pulsing drone supplemented by a simple melody give the impression of a warped musicbox. "Record The Humming of Melodious Caves" is another flying visit to the east and conjures up the sound of Bryn Jones' Muslimgauze collaborating with The Mount Vernon Arts Lab....ethnohauntology if you will. It is at once evocative of distant lands yet to be discovered and yet strangely familiar. "Continue Ascent While Blindfolded" sees E GONE visiting the sixties again for another imagined soundtrack, the vistas of sixties Paris are evident through the subtle use of instruments. "Reach The Summit, Egg!" is by far the longest track on the album at over 9 minutes and is a magnum opus of psychedelic eastern drones and textures. It neatly encapsulates what has gone before and what is yet to come and is the ideal way to round off a rather special work.

It is hard to put words to how this album makes one feel....it's not just about sounds, instruments and melodies; it is about atmosphere, textures and visions. Every track can transport you to somewhere different, both geographically and emotionally. E GONE uses sounds to conjure a place, time or feeling in the same way a great master used colour or Hemingway used words. The mix of electronica next to traditional instruments (amongst others bodhran, tanpura, harmonium, pump organ, zither, darbouka and ukulele) heightens the sense of unreality that the music imparts. I've had this on for a full day, and on every listen there is always something new to pull out of the mix, a different twist or a tug on a different feeling. This is a stunning album! It is released on Zeon Light on cassette or download, both available through the label's Bandcamp page.