Robert Hampson: Répercussions (Editions Mego, 2012)

September 14, 2013 at 8:16 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Robert Hampson: Répercussions

This album is released both in a stereo CD version and a 5.1 surround DVD-Audio version, but I tried playing the DVD in my laptop and it didn’t make any sound, so I don’t know what the difference between the two mixes is. Anyway, this is an electro-acoustic work by an artist best known for being part of Main, Loop and Godflesh, and it utilizes treated and manipulated piano and percussion instruments. Just listening on my laptop speakers, there’s plenty of shifting and fractalizing between the speakers, which sounds pretty interesting, but I can see why you’d need to have the 5.1 mix played on surround speakers, particularly as part of an installation of some sort. As it is, there’s some pretty interesting mutating textures, but like the previous Robert Hampson release I got a review promo of, I feel like there’s something missing just by listening to it, it feels like there’s supposed to be a visual/multimedia element that isn’t represented just by listening to the disc. Of the three tracks, the shortest, “Antarctica Ends Here” (dedicated to John Cale and named after his song “Antarctica Starts Here”) seems to be the warmest and most inviting, with clear piano notes and resounding violin-like drones.

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