Written by: Paul Gleason
Robert Hampson has made no secret about the influence of krautrock on Loop, but a musical statement always speaks more loudly than anything an artist could say in an interview (or, for that matter, a critic could write in a review).
Loop’s new EP, Array 1, is that statement. In fact, when I first heard it, I immediately thought of Loop’s 1988 cover of Can’s “Mother Sky,” which came out on the band’s Black Sun 12” and subsequent reissues of the 1988 LP, Fade Out.
Appearing on Can’s 1970 album, Soundtracks, “Mother Sky” – which should be hailed as one of the most influential guitar songs ever written – sounded like The Velvet Underground and James Brown’s band had gotten together for a jam session, which resulted in a joyful drone to which you could dance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5seXaMcG3c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMC_fwJUnSs
“Mother Sky” formed a bridge between Fade Out and A Gilded Eternity (1990), on which Hampson and his bandmates explored the possibility of melding funky, motorik drum rhythms with repetitive, distorted guitar riffs and basslines, with unique solos emerging out of the mix.
A Gilded Eternity wasn’t shoegaze-by-way-of-Madchester. It wasn’t like My Bloody Valentine’s “Soon” (1991), anything by Lush, anything by Ride, or The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Honey’s Dead album (1992).
As its title indicates, A Gilded Eternity operates outside time – and, therefore, doesn’t sound as dated as much of the music mentioned in the previous paragraph.
This is because Hampson, who doesn’t like Loop’s music being lumped in with easy labels such as “shoegaze” or “dream pop,” is a true student of drone. His forebears – The Velvet Underground, Glenn Branca, La Monte Young, John Cage, Ravi Shankar, John Coltrane, Phill Niblock, Terry Riley, Can, Tangerine Dream, and John Cage, just to name a few – knew, like Hampson, that by emphasizing repeated sounds, musicians can lead listeners to sustained spiritual and meditative states.
That is, to A Gilded Eternity.
That is, to Array 1.
Array 1 rings out with the timelessness of a Tibetan singing bowl – but with an ominous mood that only Hampson could create. The EP invites you to journey into the heart of your deepest emotions.
On “Precession” – which wouldn’t have sounded out of place on A Gilded Eternity – Hampson and Dan Boyd create a drone with their guitars that circle the Wayne Maskell (drums)-Hugo Morgan (bass) rhythm section. The song, with its astronomical title, is as introspective as it is astral; it’s the heaviness of the earth’s axis of rotation and the weight of human consciousness. A guitar solo slowly emerges, like the texture of an individual personality, revealing “Precession” as a song about how a distinct mind develops from and is a part of the universal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4ULAvqO260
“Aphelion” continues in this vein, with its astronomical title indicating the orbit of a planet when it’s farthest from the sun. Structurally similar to “Precession,” the song functions as a meditative drone that invites you to be mindful of the subtle changes in guitar and bass as they metaphorically loop the seemingly repetitive music, just as you’re mindful of your mutable states of consciousness.
Heard together, “Precession” and “Aphelion” set up “Coma” and “Radial,” which form the two new destinations that Hampson has in mind for us on Array 1. “Coma,” an instrumental, opens Side 2 with 7:15 of drone. Whether you blast it at full volume on a stereo or listen to it in headphones (I’ve done both), it takes you on an inward journey, replete with musical textures that somehow sound fresh with each repeated listen. It’s Hampson’s ode to the new self that you always seem to find whenever you listen to a favorite piece of music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la9jHnFSRok
The 17:03 “Radial” – the EP’s masterpiece and perhaps the best thing that Loop has ever done – starts with a drone, which sounds like the flip side of “Coma.” Darker and more portentous than the prior track, the drone leads into krautrock rhythms, buzzing guitars, swirling guitar fills, and Hampson’s distorted vocals. “Radial,” with another astronomical title, explores the range of Loop’s music and, almost in spite of its sinister sound, points to the sun as stellar body that gives life to both music and human consciousness – which, let’s face it, couldn’t exist without the other.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBklwv9cl_U
Which brings us back to “Mother Sky,” Can, drone music, and all the rest. As demonstrated on Array 1, Loop music takes us back to our cosmic core. It’s beyond “shoegaze,” beyond “dream pop,” and beyond “labels” – indeed, it’s beyond time.
