Dance of the Damaged Souls

Rob Mills & Ian Sturgess

Dance of the Damaged Souls
Performed By Rob Mills & Ian Sturgess
Album UPC 889211425525
CD Baby Track ID TR0001321526
Label Tamarisk Music
Released 2015-06-01
BPM 112
Rated 0
ISRC uscgj1523303
Year 2015
Spotify Plays 7
Writers
Writer Ian Howell Sturgess
Pub Co Ian Howell Sturgess
Writer Robert Alexander Mills
Pub Co Robert Alexander Mills
Composer Ian Howell Sturgess, Robert Alexander Mills
ClearanceFacebook Sync License,Traditional Sync,YouTube Sync ServiceEasy Clear
Rights Controlled Master
Rights Easy Clear: Master
Original/Cover/Public Domain original
Country UK - England - South East

Description

An emotive instrumental fusion of electronica, rock, jazz saxophone and atmospheric moods which mixes dark filmic textures and upbeat memorable tunes in an expansive musical palette.

Notes

Saxophonist Rob Mills and guitarist/producer Ian Sturgess first met in 1988 while playing in South London band The Balloons and have been friends and collaborators ever since, playing with, among others, former Can vocalist Damo Suzuki.

Rob is best known for his work with experimental British band Echo City, formed by Van der Graaf Generator drummer Guy Evans. Using a combination of home-made percussion installations and traditional instruments, they’ve extensively toured Europe and North America, and have worked with artists such as Peter Hammill, Fad Gadget and the Sun Ra Arkestra.

Ian started out playing in cult Hampshire bands Hot Matron and The Walking Floors, while guesting live and on record with indie duo the Lemon Kittens. Between 1984 and the end of 1987 he was a member of Danielle Dax’s band, playing 94 gigs with her across Europe and Japan, and contributing guitar, bass and percussion to her albums and singles during this period. He then toured with The Balloons through the 1990s before concentrating on writing and recording music for TV. His tracks are used worldwide on a large variety of major network shows.

In late 2013, Ian suggested to Rob that they collaborate on an album and over the next 12 months they convened at Ian’s studio in rural Sussex to write and record The High Weald. Bringing together a wide range of influences – from Steely Dan, Radiohead and King Crimson to Massive Attack, John Coltrane and Jaga Jazzist – they have created an album of instrumental music that ranges from the atmospheric and filmic on the one hand, to driving upbeat pieces on the other.

The more elegiac pieces such as Kyoto Garden, Bear Left At Ursa Minor, Ode To Bela Tarr and Bottom Feeder feature Rob weaving delicate patterns of soprano sax around backing tracks awash with thunder, rain, clanging wind chimes, lo-fi piano and dancing marimba. These are contrasted by uptempo pieces such Gabblerdictum, an echo-laden dub-jazz hybrid underpinned by big drums and fat bass, Strictly Semi-Viscous with its roaring tenor and guitars, and the epic Dance Of The Damaged Souls which winds from a dark intro through a fast-paced middle section featuring tenor and guitar solos, before collapsing back to ominous swirling loops and finally dying amid a welter of atonal mellotron.

The High Weald is not an album that falls neatly into any one genre – and it’s all the better for that.

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