Groundskeeping, Kenneth James Gibson. Meadows Heavy Recorders
Kenneth James Gibson is a true rarity. He's equally comfortable writing, arranging, recording & engineering (for other artists as well) and producing his own ambient and electronic music. He's a highly respected artist amongst his genres, peers and fans alike. His music has been featured in some of the most influential compilations, such as the highly touted Pop Ambient series on Kompakt. He's also a helluva live DJ, equally capable of rocking dance-floors with thumpin' underground tech house beats during peak club hours. This sonic versatility seemingly informs his keen ability to create a sense of spaciousness, and his stunning command of dimensionality helps him manufacture these gloriously vast musical landscapes without crowding them with extraneous noise just for noise's sake. Groundskeeping, his latest ambient LP, is a stunning audible looking glass into all those fine attributes that make Gibson's music such an absolute pleasure to lose yourself to.
"The Grounds," the albums opener, kicks things off with an eerie calm, setting the mood with sparse, floating synths echoing and building, then fading back into the darkness. It's a sound reminiscent of the opening scene to Alien: Ridley Scott's harrowing sci-fi thriller. The Sulaco, a massive ship, hovers through space as the crew lay in their hyper-sleep chambers. The feeling of isolation is captured beautifully, as it is here. "Small Triumphs and Deep Disappointments" extends that deep sense of desolation via its haunting, flittering strings. The broadening flutter of the cello-like sound is steadily pained, foreshadowing heartache and dread. Surprisingly, the mood lifts in "A Snowy Year And The Meadows Heavy." It's not sunshine and roses, but the sound is vast, and things start to lighten incrementally. The imagery is more like a drone flying over a sprawling mid-western farm covered in snow during sunrise than a spacecraft floating in the lonely vacuum of space. Things start to get a little creepy on "In Time You Will," as white noise and low-bass rumbles fade in and spread outward, these sparse, chilling string arrangements ebb and flow across the soundstage, creating an intensely suspenseful atmosphere. Achieving this sensation with minimal elements is extremely difficult, and it showcases Gibson's ambient mastery.
"The Groundskeeper" maintains that tension, then releases it gradually via wide-open, spacey, echoing synth-like pads and floaty ethereal vocal samples, all trailing off into the sonic blackness. The darkness continues throughout "An Untroubled Moment on Magnus Bridge," but the vibe grows more dynamic as the triggering and velocity of the Magnus electric organ sounds ping against and around each other, like audio ripples in a pond after a few rocks are thrown in multiple directions. The sounds, like the water, flow gracefully in all directions. "David's Pass" is so seductively cavernous. Transient, echoing strings lead into a tunnel. It's like KJG captured the sound of a tunnel after all the cars have driven through it; their audible lines growing faint but still hovering. The craziest thing about this track? It's "all guitar and pedal steel" according to Gibson. Those surreal tunnel-like sounds? All done with a "heavily effected" electric Fender Mustang guitar. Now that's truly amazing. "Pacific Mountain Express" closes the record out with waterfall-like washes of sounds. Again, the energy generated here feels like a Trekkie voyage through space, or a ride down a rushing river. The momentum builds steadily, but its so gradual it's liquid, like the shimmer of the moon's reflected light off the surface of that rushing river. This is mood music for the disenfranchised.
While the overall sonic pallet of Groundskeeping leans towards darkness there is light to be found here. There's also a sense of hopefulness scattered throughout its broad and spacious cosmic sounds via gorgeous, minimal crescendoing keys and wispy ethereal synth-like elements. And while this album sounds totally galactic, perhaps even more impressive than the music itself is the fact that the record is mostly comprised of highly effected guitars! The vastness of Gibson's arrangements, while sparse compositionally, are so textural in their execution they render magnificently vivid images. This is what great ambient music aspires to. Kenneth James Gibson has produced some intricate and beautiful images on Groundskeeping without cluttering the soundstage; proving that with music, like so many other things in life, less is often more. Ambient devotees should check this one out ASAP. Highly recommended + this album is a spectacular travel companion through your favorite cans!
