Sargasso Sky by David Colohan

Pre-order here - https://cruelnaturerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/sargasso-sky

Cover image by Brittani Hennessy, taken at Marblehead, Massachusetts.

'As a founding member of legendary Irish avant folk collective United Bible Studies, David Colohan has improvised with too many artists to count. On this solo outing, he focuses his energies inward, creating ten tracks of patient drone laced with occasional vintage drum machine beats. An array of synthesizers, vocoders and other electronic instruments are blended with lonesome guitar, pendulous fretless bass and various acoustic instruments to produce wide, atmospheric expanses. The music is not arranged in a linear fashion, but rather into clouds that loom and flow across the open air, inviting speculation not only about what the shapes resemble, but also about what can be discovered in the negative spaces between them.' Emily Pothast, The Wire


'Whether it’s been in the United Bible Studies or in his solo capacity, David Colohan’s latest run of work has been up there with the very best in the experimental underground. And while it’s hard to imagine, his latest, Sargasso Sky, might just be his finest offering yet.
Throughout these ten compositions, on Sargasso Sky Colohan finds a unique to way of finding the sheltered parts of the soul, with sound vibrations that cascade like gentle waves to the shore.
Not many experimental-based albums outside the ambient paradigm have a way of creating so much emotional tension, but on Sargasso Sky Colohan manages to produce something deeply unsettling, overtly hymnal and undeniably nostalgic. So forceful, you just have to submit and deal with the consequences in what is yet another masterstroke from the Irish artist.' Simon Kirk, Sun 13

'The Sargasso Sea is a unique place on earth: situated within the Atlantic ocean, it is the only sea without a land boundary – a sea within an ocean, in other words – its borders defined by sea currents. Its name is derived from to the vast ‘sea’ of free-floating seaweed called Sargassum which occupies the space, and it’s an ecosystem like no other, the aquatic equivalent of the Amazon. And yet its existence appears to be considerably less well-known, despite the success of Jean Rhys’ 1966 novel, Wide Sargasso Sea, which has been adapted for film, stage, TV, and radio and has been lauded as a pivotal work of postcolonial feminism. And it’s this book which I think of when I hear the word ‘sargasso’ – although clearly, it has absolutely no bearing on this album. What even is a sargasso sky?
The liner notes paint the scene, where ‘A sargasso sky shimmers above a twilit American shoreline, slipping in & out of time. Via a way slowed down take on jazz fusion, limpid pools catch its reflection, ebbing & flowing with the soon to come stars… The cover images taken at Marblehead, Massachusetts depict something of the aura of an area that H.P. Lovecraft considered life-changing. Step into the sea & sky….’
There are many layers, then, to this release, which extend far beyond the surface of the music itself. But when it comes to the music, Colohan presents ten pieces, all comparatively concise (only four extend beyond the five-minute mark, and none reach beyond eight), and the form is ambient yet structured, with rippling washes of synth gliding over the mellow mists of sound which float invisibly through the air. Despite its title casting its eye above the horizon to the sky, parts of this album is given to a preoccupation with the water, still, as exemplified by titles such as ‘Sacred Teeming Waters’ and ‘Longshore Drift’.
Whereas much ambient music is formless, abstract, the instrumentation vague, on Sargasso Sky, David Colohan offers musical works with structure, and with the implementation of identifiable instruments.
‘Longshore Drift’ is led by sparse piano, backed by a sliding, bulbous synth bass that’s extremely eighties in sound, and elsewhere on the album, long resonant voices dominate, from flute to organ. These are clearly synth voices, sounds conjured digitally in response to creative needs but also evolving technology facilitating new music. There are some bold drones which surge and swash on ‘Anoint’, and ‘Summers Old as Stars’ brings late 70s and early 80s synth stylings to the fore, with hints of Tubular Bells and Vangelis, and the myriad music of this era which remained anonymous. But for all that, Sargasso Sky is subtle and it’s still not overtly electro for the most part, and it’s not of the prog persuasion either. But what is it? Certainly, there are parts which do very much pursue progressive forms, and Sargasso Sky is very much an exploratory work: spacious, undefined by limits of composition or instrumentation.' Christopher Nosnibor, Aural Aggravation.

'Kürzlich erschien mit “Sargasso Sky” ein neues Tape des auch als Agitated Radio Pilot bekannten irischen Musikers David Colohan auf Cruel Nature Records. Das im irischen Ballymahon aufgenommene, aber inhaltlich ein Setting im Nordosten der USA zeichnende Album enthält zehn meist melancholisch eingefärbte und zugleich von einer ergriffenen Feierlichkeit durchdrungene Downtempo-Kompositionen von ambienter Struktur und einer oftmals orchestral anmutenden Fülle, bei denen eine Menge an Klangquellen – u.a. verschiedene Synthesizer, Mellotron, Vocoder, Tanpura, Harmonium, Lap Steel Guitar, Bratsche, Klarinette – zum Einsatz kommen, die den einzelnen Stücken immer einen eigenen individuellen Charakter verleihen. Vom Künstler selbst heißt es: “A sargasso sky shimmers above a twilit American shoreline, slipping in & out of time. Via a way slowed down take on jazz fusion, limpid pools catch its reflection, ebbing & flowing with the soon to come stars… The cover images taken at Marblehead, Massachusetts depict something of the aura of an area that H.P. Lovecraft considered life-changing. Step into the sea & sky….”. Gleichwohl sich viel bewegt in der Musik, die auch im Rezipienten viel zu bewegen vermag, ist sie primär eine Musik des Verweilens. Colohan hat bereits einige Solo-Veröffentlichungen auf Labels wie Cruel Nature oder Was Ist Das? herausgebraht, unseren Lesern ist er auch durch seine Mitwirkung bei Gruppen wie United Bible Studies und Embertides her bekannt. Das Album ist auch digital erhältlich.' African Paper

'An eerie loveliness that should really be soundtracking a Werner Herzog film; indeed Popol Vuh’s work provides a useful reference point as, similar to Vuh, the music herein is almost religious in its solemnity and grace.' The Active Listener

Agitated Radio Pilot
United Bible Studies
mixcloud.com
vimeo.com
Deserted Village