A Wake A Week...do we never tire of these endless reruns of our grief? With this debut release from his new project, Dave Dando-Moore (Detritus) offers us an intensely composed symphony of unending sorrow. If Detritus is the debris of emotion, A Wake A Week is the tar-black residue still clinging like a parasite, clawing away at old wounds. Like ashes on celluloid, Little Black Cloud opens up a widescreen vista of sound, albeit sullied and decaying. Eschewing the polish and sterility that digital production can entail, the album embodies the crackle and spark of embers of a once-consuming fire, giving us an album that feels organic and alive. From the opening waves of House, the listener will submerged in cascades of suffocating, drowning synthesis. Capturing the very essence of heartache, each rumble and pulse pulls us deeper into a heart of darkness. Yet, there is beauty and hope shattering through this black firmament. Opening up the the instrumentation to such diverse timbres as neo-classical pianos, tranquilised guitar and the perfumed atmospherics of ethnic vocals, expectant warmth rises through the swathes of oppressive intensity. No artistic hubris is attempted here. This is as raw, open and confessional as music can get. Drawing comparisons with Max Richter, Deaf Centre, Johann Johannsson and The Protagonist, A Wake A Wake will evoke cathartic exorcisms of woe in even the most glacial of hearts.
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