You flip a split LP from heads to tails, and you prepare yourself for what could very well be an Acute Shift in Zones: different instruments, divergent ideas, a whole new world. Some splits hit hard with juxtaposition and attempt to fit a Yin and a Yang onto one vinyl slab (last year’s OPN / Rene Hell split on NNA comes to mind). The flip from Kevin Greenspon’s Betrayed by the Angels side over to Former Selves’ Apropos of Golden Dreams, though, comes out just the opposite. The former’s iridescent ambient miniatures segue into the latter’s layered synth compositions so seamlessly that I imagine fresh ears couldn’t tell them apart in some kind of blind Pepsi Drone Challenge. Both artists stand out among the “drift” crowd by covering plenty of harmonic and dynamic ground within their relatively short structures, interweaving hypnotic chord progressions and delay-drenched, upper-register leads as each session builds to a climax. For Greenspon, that climax manifests as a passage of detailed noise hiss on “Truth and Falling,” while Former Selves (Paul Skomsvold) shakes up his “Golden Dreams” halfway through with an arpeggiated melody that animates the track into an even lovelier arrangement.
This split LP marks the 100th release on Greenspon’s consistently killer label Bridgetown Records — no stranger to TMT’s love and affection. If you pre-order it now, he’ll ship it on or around July 30 when he gets home from the West Coast leg of his eternal 100+ date US tour schedule (!!), which is bound to bring him to a continental US city near you sometime soon.
• Kevin Greenspon: http://www.kevingreenspon.info
• Former Selves: http://formerselves.bandcamp.com
• Bridgetown Records: http://www.bridgetownrecords.info