The Circular Ruins - Realm of Possibilty

[abasio]

The Circular Ruins

Realm of Possibility

Databloem

2002

 

Tracklist

1 The Beginning Of All Things (6:20)

2 Realm Of Possibility (9:01)

3 Echoes From Stones Part 1 (5:53)

4 Excursion (7:13)

5 Ancient Island (12:58)

6 Truth And Waiting (5:45)

7 A Language For Shadows (14:42)

8 Echoes From Stones Part 2 (3:34)

9 Reverse Alchemy (5:47)

 

The fifth album from The Circular Ruins, Anthony Paul Kerby from England but living in Canada & his first release on the Dutch label Databloem. The Circular Ruins is a story teller. Through his music he always manages to paint the most wonderful images in my head & then evolve the image into a story. This album is no different

 

1. The Beginning Of All Things

The beginning of all things is a very electronic synthy work. Long synth drones in the background & synth chords playing melodically. Very subtle percussion eventually gets drowned out by chaotic whooshing sounds & to me it all sounds very spacey! Not lush floating through space but very powerful chaos spacey, like the birth of a star, a galaxy or a universe. Not having experienced any of these I'm not really sure but these are the images conjured in my head by this track.

 

2. Realm Of Possibility

A more percussive & melodic track with the realm of possibility but keeping with a similar feel to the opening track. The chaos & the spaciness are still present but there is much more energy & movement now. Like the galaxy that has just been born is expanding rapidly through the dimensions of space, so much potential to be reached, changing everything as it goes. Again the synths are great & move melodically making this a very musical piece of ambient. Also the evolution of the track as it goes, building & changing is great. It follows on very well from the beginning of all things

 

3. Echoes From Stone - Part 1

We start off here with some natural sounds. Birds quietly singing & the sounds of distant water. Over this comes a deep oppressive drone which sounds like a cold harsh wind. Percussion that sounds like the intro to a D&B track before it kicks in with a heavy beat sounds really good when continued for longer than a few seconds. It all feels like the changing of a world. Terraforming a lush natural world into a cold barren one.

 

4. Excursion

Sounds of waves lapping against the shore always place my brain right onto a cold beach in the early morning. Wrapped up tight against the elements I sit & watch the wonder of the ocean. Little electronic noises flit about in the air around me. Each noise manages to sound like a mechanical insect. I imagine that this track is the same as the previous track but in a different part of the world. The world is slowly being changed into a metallic wonderland of cold steel & busy machines.

 

5. Ancient Island

A longer piece now. Very descriptive & can be summed up by the title, Ancient Island is right. I get a very old feel from this track. Isolated & deserted both spring to mind when thinking of adjectives for this music. Natural sounds, grand sounds, old sounds, mysterious sounds, obvious sounds, deep sounds from the depths, high pitch sounds shooting up to the sky all mix together very nicely. The slow tribal beat adds to the ancient island feel, as do the guttural cries barely perceivable except in headphones. There is one sound though in this track that sounds like it represents a volcano, it's hard to describe how it represents a volcano but it really gives me that feel. So a track that sounds like an ancient volcanic island with a pre industrial tribe living on it. Then the electronic wind comes to change everything.

 

6. Truth & Waiting

Lighter sounds & more percussion now. Like an extra step in evolution. The music puts in mind of a futuristic society, with clean cities stretching into the sky with vehicles flying among the tops of the buildings in harmony with the birds high in the sky. The percussion towards the end shifts to a more shuffling beat & just as the music is stripped away you can here the sounds of children playing in the street far below.

 

7. A Language For Shadows

Another long track here, it seems to be another step forward. A Utopian society can't last forever & will eventually fall into decadence & hedonism & finally into chaos & darkness. This track in my mind paints that story. A failed society, the shell of once great cities, the darkness brought on by too much light. The ambience on display is oppressive, the sounds colder & darker but as the track progresses you can hear hints of the light returning. First it's just some brief bird call but then other signs of life come back, high pitched electronic life & voices on the wind eventually on 12 minutes leading into a melody giving the feeling that the recovery from darkness is underway

 

8. Echoes From Stone - Part 2

Some really quick beats here. Almost jungle but lighter. These beats disappear and there is a vocal sample taken from Pär Lagerkvist's Aftonland (1953). The vocal is one that even after many repeat listens doesn't get old. The voice is perfect for the mood of the album message fits perfectly with the albums story.

Someday only one of those we have long to go, the Earth will remember you just as it remembers the grass & the forests. Just as the soil remembers, just as the mountains remember the winds of peace will be as one ending, the sky the sea.....

As we near the end of our story, the words seem fittingly nostalgic.

 

9. Reverse Alchemy

Reverse Alchemy seems to me to be the opposite of creation. The opposite of the chaos of The Beginning Of All Things, it's a nice calm tearing apart of the walls of reality. As this universe is stripped away nothing can stop up or even put up a fight. The calmness of the destruction of this dimension, this realm is peaceful until the penultimate moment of fire then ultimate peace returns & the possibilities of that were endless are now non-existent.

End.

 

 

This album is an amazingly descriptive journey, like the story of an entire universe from it's chaotic creation evolving through the creation of a world, the pre industrial civilisation, the Utopia created & it's fall, it's nostalgic twilight & ultimate destruction. Like everything I've heard from The Circular Ruins, it's class through & through. Okay I've only heard 3 albums but I definitely want to get more. Great stuff, one of the best in the Databloem collection.