Customer Reviews

Singularity

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This very welcome new release is Peter's first completely solo recording - in the truest sense of the word - in many years. Just after the final mixes were finished on his last studio album, 2004's INCOHERENCE, Peter suffered a heart attack - and the thoughts and reflections that naturally accompany such a brush with `crossing the line' are very powerfully at work on Singularity. True art is immortal - artists are not. On his notes concerning the recording and release of this album on his website, Sofa Sound, Peter states `...I suppose I can say that most of these songs are Cautionary Tales. Intimations of mortality are present in almost every line...' Those who are familiar with the depth and scope of Peter's work know just what level of quality to expect from his lyrics...those for whom this might be their first exposure are in for a treat. Long-time fans will in no way be disappointed with SINGULARITY - and in many ways, this is an excellent place for newcomers to begin to discover the wonders of Hammill's work.

Several of the songs give voice to concerns about living our lives to the fullest and the soul-searching we might do at the end of our time on this mortal coil. In the relatively upbeat opening track, `Our eyes give it shape', the singer reflects on the uselessness of acting too late (`...it comes as no surprise that changing all the locks when the horses have bolted is a useless exercise.'), and the treasure of enjoying the small things (`...the simple pleasure is the mystery spice of life...a simple pleasure in the simple things makes life great.'). `Event horizon' follows, more laid-back musically with beautifully layered acoustic guitars - a more direct reference to Peter's `cardiac episode', wherein the singer finds himself `Flat on my back, I can feel myself falling into a singular state of mind', he repeatedly invokes the image of `crossing the line' - but hopefully after having the opportunity of `...dotting the i's' and `crossing the t's'.

`Famous last words', the third track on the album, is another song about looking back too late in regret, chiding the addressee: `You'll go out in style, to the last in denial of what anything's meant.' The track begins with a surreal, faraway chorus of tweaked voices (all Peter, of course), singing-chanting in a preview of the song-ending coda: `It's a little too late for sorry...', rather like a Greek chorus chiming in to make sure the point is made to the listener, at the same time a bit like listening to one's own subconscious (conscience?) - a very effective beginning, especially when it ties into the song's ending.

`Maybe my mother' is perhaps one of the most personal, moving songs Peter has ever recorded, painting a vivid picture of aging and losing touch with the world. He describes her poignantly: `...distance encamped in her eyes, not quite oblivious but close to a state of inertia, in which she won't even realise how everything's passing her by.' The lyrics speak of the inevitability of aging and death as simply parts of life: `Some journeys we make alone, somehow we'll leave all we've known.' Instrumentally this track is built around the piano, with other layers kept to a minimum - very befitting the lyrical content.

`Vainglorious boy' is a bit of self-deprecation on the artist's part - and not the first time Peter has poked a pin at his own balloon, a sign that he doesn't take himself too seriously (nor should the listener).

`of wire, of wood' is a short instrumental, the title referring to the sources of sound in a piano. The music bears a sense of foreboding and pent-up energy, the piano being joined as the piece progresses by some sort of tuned percussion which has a bit of a kalimba-like feeling to it. It's a perfect introduction to the next song, `Friday afternoon', which addresses the harsh reality that we never know what tragedy seemingly unrelated events will create when the paths of two fates cross. `Blind drunk, he met you head on, on a normal Friday afternoon' - and the singer laments the loss of his friend: `...sometimes we're pulled up short, quick shockingly defenceless. I don't know what to do: my piano's out of tune...' The tuned percussion from `of wire, of wood' returns toward then end, a musical crossing of paths between the foreboding intro and the story itself - a chillingly effective yet subdued link between the two.

The album ends with `White dot' - a vibrantly surreal song such as only Peter Hammill can create, with layered backward vocals starting us down a road that has us riding a looped piano track and hanging on for all we're worth as the tortured, unreal vocals sing of the mortal danger of an empty mind and life, of drifting through our time with no purpose or meaning. The end could come at any moment: `A time to think is now at a premium...though in the pink in every outward appearance, inside it's white dot time' - `white dot' perhaps referring to the last vestige of light on a television screen when the power has been turned off. The arrangement brilliantly conveys pressure, the closing in of a threatening cacophony, the weight of life.

Peter's output is staggering - between recordings issued under his own name, those made with Van der Graaf Generator, and `other projects', they number an incredible 55 releases (which includes, as far as I can tell, only around 4 compilations of material released in other forms). All of this since 1969 - and he's still (thankfully) going strong. His albums encompass a wide variety of styles, employing few or myriad instruments and voices, simple or unbelievably complex arrangements - but the quality of his art has never wavered. The listener can always expect music and lyrics that will intelligent and thought-provoking...sometimes even a bit of fun. SINGULARITY continues a chain of creativity that I hope will continue for many years to come.

I'm not going to write a extensive review, even though I cannot say enough about this CD. I'm assuming you already know his music, or you wouldn't be reading this. Describing his approach to music is like describing Shakespeare's approach to the play. His use of the English language to describe the human condition is uncompromising and profound. I love this CD through and through. (I cannot say that about most of his others.) Expensive, yes! However, if you are a fan of his music, it is worth it!

Peter's last solo studio recording, 'Incoherence," was released in 2004, having been completed a day before he had a heart attack. Since then he's been occupied with the Van der Graaf Generator reunion, first in recording "Present" and then in the run of live shows undertaken in 2005; he was also responsible for remastering the VdGG catalogue. In 2006 "Veracious," a set of live duo performances with Stuart Gordon, was released and Peter also remastered the solo CDs which he had recorded for Charisma in the 70s. Little wonder, then, that when he came to write and record "Singularity" intimations of mortality and considerations of history both public and personal were uppermost in his mind. The main theme here is the long dive down into not being who we were....

Perhaps inspired by the early Charisma recordings, "Singularity" is absolutely a solo record on which Peter sings and plays all instruments alone. This is not, though, a folksy singer-songwriter effort. Experimentation and change have always been important to Peter and some of the sonic landscapes encountered here are strangely new. Warped electric guitars and vocals crushed into slabs of noise are as likely to appear as grand pianos or acoustic guitars. Many definitions of singularity exist and though several of them have some bearing on and resonance in this work the principle ones with which Peter identifies here are the personal (unusual, strange) and gravitational (Black Hole). So...it's serious but it's not devoid of humour, though where this occurs it's often of a black variety...and often directed back at the singer himself. After all, we are all circling just outside the gravitational pull of our personal black holes...that's where we're heading. Meanwhile, though, we can whistle a tune, albeit a strange and singular one.

Peter Hammill's output in the late 80's through 90's is generally given mixed reviews (I'm honestly not familiar with it yet), but it seems he's been on an artistic resurgence in this decade. Certainly "Singularity", like Van der Graaf Generator's "Present" from 2005, is evidence that Peter Hammill still has the flair. This is clearly the work of a mature artist reflecting on his life as it is at that particular stage.

Several of the songs deal in one way or the other with his near-fatal heart attack of a few years earlier. The first song "Our Eyes Give it Shape" is a rare bird in the PH catalog - an opening song with an uplifting message - namely that he's glad he's still around to smell the roses. "Event Horizon" is a disturbing but fascinating account of the thoughts going through his head as he was near death. The title of "white Dot", if I understand it correctly refers to the white dot one used to see on old TV sets when you turned them off, as if to say "Lights out! Show's over!" "Famous Last Words" and "Vainglorious Boy" presumably are autobiographical, and seem to be having to re-evaluate one's attitudes and priorities in light of a life-changing event. In lesser hands this kind of stuff would be depressing, but that is not the case here.

Other songs deal with other loss. "Meanwhile My Mother" is about the final days of his mother. I would expect such a song to be very depressing, but it's a testament to his talent that he's made this a very touching and not at all morbid song. "Friday Afternoon" is a song about the death of his piano tuner at the hands of a drunk driver. He describes the baffling experience of a sudden, inexplicable and senseless loss.

While the vocals take center stage on this album, it is also full of interesting sonic textures. Most songs are based on acoustic guitar or piano, sometimes punctuated by dissonant blasts of guitar or studio effects. White Dot" has vocals and music that are backmasked, with a very jarring effect. Some of the experimental touches are somewhat reminescent of things he did on "Black Box" and other albums of that period (which is a good thing!), but this is not nostalgic retread music by any means. In short this is a very enjoyable album that I can easily recommend.

THE WORDS AND SINGING ARE GREAT... THE MUSIC IS SO SO, REALLY. I AM A BIG FAN O PETER BUT THIS ONE IS NOT THAT GOOD FOR ME. for a better option of a calm hammill record get Fireships or Everyone you hold. A lot better!