Album Details

• Artist: Oren Ambarchi
• Album: In The Pendulum's Embrace
• Label: Southern Lord
• Year of Release: 2007
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2007-10-21

A more or less constant pulse is heard on this record, interrupted—or maybe being guided to—a gorgeous guitar drone that is at times spare and humble, and reckless and brash. This is drone that has authority, which points to possible resolutions before returning back into its low moan. Then it is your turn to continue the pulse; you will, since “In The Pendulum’s Embrace” will resonate with you for awhile. This is music with presence. The tension of the drone in the eighteen minute opener “Fever, A Warm Poison,” through to the closing “Trailing Moss In Mystic Glow” is always bearable because its warmth, and because there is always an expectation that when the drone breaks into guitar, it will be worth the wait. Ambarchi has long been one of the great guitar improvisors, always with an ear toward the transcendent. His track record, plus the expectant space he creates with each number here, makes you confident that when he breaks it open and shows you the heart of the piece, it will be exactly what you have been waiting for. It is.

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