REVIEWS


Igneous Flame / Achromus 'Flicker' (www.luminasounds.com, 2008) 14 tracks, 69.05 mins

After several solo albums, Pete Kelly is expanding his Igneous Flame musical horizons by joining forces with Michael Stringer aka Achromus. Pete continues to explore all guitar-based forms of ambient, while Michael supplies keys and other sonic elements and textures. The emphasis throughout is on keeping things bright and ethereal, surprisingly accessible given the lack of distinct melodies. 'Evergreen' floats slowly by to start things off, and it is typical of the light and airy approach. In a slight divergence, 'Sinuhe' has a brief Finnish narrative, but musically it remains similar to the rest. Sometimes the guitars soar over the other sounds and are distinctly guitar-like, but more often than not they meld into the rest of the amorphous ambience. 'Off The Horizon' is a slowly undulating piece with wonderfully delicate textures, including female vocal samples that Kelly manipulates into a velvety smooth instrument. Speaking of sonic manipulation, several tracks feature samples from airports and train stations, although you'd never know it. Mostly a collaborative effort, there are a handful of tracks that are Kelly's alone, including the last four, which take the disc into a bit darker territory, but nothing to be too afraid of. Besides, there's a good chance you will have drifted off into dreamy reverie by then.

Igneous Flame / Achromus 'Halo' (Download: AtmoWorks, CDR: Hypnos, 2008) 2 tracks, 53.33 mins

Flicker and Halo, the two recent releases by Igneous Flame and Achromus, are opposite sides of the same ambient coin. Flicker is the lighter, ethereal choice. If you prefer your ambient on the dark side then Halo is the one for you. Comprised of two long journeys into cavernous depths, it offers a tasty treat for explorers of the darker realms. And while it is dark, it is eminently listenable for fans of the genre, not too strange or experimental. 'Arc Light' starts right in with a metallic, reverberating echo, jumping right into the shadows. Haunting sounds, vaguely like eerie choirs, hang in the mist. It takes several twists and turns along the way, sometimes sounding more like white noise or churning machinery, at other times drifting more softly by. Don't go looking for distinct melody or rhythm, though, as you are unlikely to find it. This is all about abstract sonic textures in varying shades from grey to black. At times I imagine a deep dive into the Marianas Trench; and just when it seems we might be getting closer to the light for a time, we dip back down again. 'Halo' is similar and yet unique, at turns both lighter and darker than its predecessor. The artists recommend headphone listening, but if you do you may want to leave the lights on. Recommended.

Reviewed by Phil Derby on his Electroambient Space site (Nov-Dec 2008 edition) Here
There is also an interview with Pete Kelly (Igneous Flame) in this edition.

Harmonium review by John Shanahan

Listening to Harmonium, the new collaborative work from Igneous Flame and Disturbed Earth, is like spending an hour wrapped in a warm bank of fog that sighs around you, spectral shapes forming out of the mist to laze and drift past. It is complete immersion in an unimpeded stream of gentle sound that utterly calms the mind and spirit and slows the breath. Elegantly simple in feeling but offering so much when listened to deeply, the tracks here are expertly layered, with Dean Richards' pedal harmonium creations floating and rolling quietly through Pete Kelly's sonic manipulations, the alchemical blend turning them to softly pulsing dreamspaces. This is a perfect CD for meditation or for low-volume looping during sleep. For pure, atmospheric drifts, this is one of the best releases I've heard this year. A brilliant piece of work, and a Hypnagogue Highly Recommended CD.



Electra review by John Shanahan

I will caveat this review by stating up front that I am a long-standing Igneous Flame fan. I look forward to receiving new music from Igneous (aka Pete Kelly), and I eagerly load each new disc into my iPod knowing that from the moment I hit "play" I'm in for a good, mellow ride on well-constructed drifts and guitar textures. And so it is with the newest release, Electra. The ten tracks here fold as smoothly as silk one into the next in an ongoing series of bright, warm meditations colored with the intermittent passing of clouds. (Most notably so in "Chromashift," its partner, "Chromaflow," and the appropriately dark "Mountain Breath.") The pieces here play like movements of a singular whole, each with their own distinct character and purpose--the soaring feel of the opener, "Trident," the subtly majestic undertones of "Ghost Voices," the glossy waver of "Shimmer"--and the space between songs becomes a moment for taking a deep breath at the surface before heading back down. Kelly's beatless constructs are, as usual, thoughtfully and thickly layered and there's not a bump or jolt in the flow. This is a must for repeat play, but do yourself a favor and have the headphones on to make the most of each pass. Moment by perfectly constructed moment, this is another superb offering from Igneous Flame--a good stepping-off point if you're not familiar with his work or, if you're a fan like me, another excellent addition to a growing and consistently impressive canon of work.

Both reviews by John Shanahan on his 'Hypnagogue' site Here