I have no idea about which could be the right image for a postcard from Leeds but I’m sure to know the right soundtrack to a journey from Leeds to London. How long can be that trip? I would say the time to enjoy two very pretty tapes I’m listening to right now and it’s really a pleasure for me to be here writing about them. Join me in this adventure and you’ll discover something very interesting.
To be precise, tape one is titled Demos meanwhile tape two is titled Triangle of Hope EP. They are the work from the Leeds based ambient experimental band Ten. Ten is led by Dominic Deane and various other guest musicians. Demos is a seven track tape demo that includes songs previously unreleased from the band in 2010 to 2012 and has contributions from Jonathan Fryer, Angela Chan and Florence Fawcett. Triangle of Hope EP instead is a six track tape comprising of minimalist, experimental soundscape pieces created by Dominic Deane. And it’s all about one hour of a beautiful listening.
I decided to start with Demos and suddenly everything around me became green. Should this music have a colour this album would have all the tonalities of green. That green, light, dark, intense, you can see through the window of a train crossing the midlands. And looking outside you’ll travel elsewhere lulled by Ten’s sound.
‘Track 1’ opens up the collection of songs and you are already into the album's mood. It’s joyful and inspiring. ‘Track 2’ instead has a vein of melancholy inside that reminds me the best songs of Olafur Arnalds. The minimalism is impressive.
All the tracks combines electronic keys, shoegaze noise and percussion with the acoustic sounds of glockenspiel.
And ‘Track 3’ is the perfect example of this mix. The acoustic sounds dominate the scene creating an intense and suspended atmosphere.
The following tracks are on the same path. It’s a music to travel, physically but mainly with your imagination. I’m listening to it at night time and the outcome is that this sound makes darkness feel alive.
The closing song, ‘Track 7’, starts with a shimmer of something strange and soft, an ambient mist of strings that's both electronic and acoustic. Then something weird happens. A sweet melody moves among the instruments and it’s pure magic. It’s a sad song yes, but it’s also a joyful song. It can be shaped as you wish.
But we are just in the middle of our journey!
Triangle of Hope EP opens with ‘Television’ where synths float in the background as the counting becomes more drawn out and more unintelligible. It’s a bit dark and it’s like we have left the green landscape of Demos and Deane leads us in a dark forest. ‘Life Cycle’ is pursuing and a perfect soundtrack to a movie like Prometheus, visionary music for a science fiction film. The same tension of ‘Life Cycle’ dominates ‘Future in One Word’ and ‘Triangle of Hope’. This EP is like one song only, pretty homogeneous in its tone, monolithic with peculiar sides.
The tension is everywhere and the sound rises from the ground like the fog of a winter day and then dissolve flowing into the next song.
‘Mirror’ is the closing track of Triangle of Hope. This track turns the EP into a sunnier direction. A low throb that sounds like loose strings on an upright bass slide right against a warm, repeated keyboard melody. It’s the aural equivalent of breathing room.
In August 2013 Ten released these two cassette tapes you can find on their Bandcamp page and at the following UK record shops: Jumbo Records and Norman Records in Leeds, Piccadilly Records in Manchester and Rough Trade in London. Both records are limited to just 50 physical copies.
Demos and Triangle of Hope EP are like the bright and the dark side of the moon but contrary to the moon this collection shows us two different faces. The journey offered by Demos and Triangle of Hope EP is an experience you cannot miss. You should grab your copy!
