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 ARKKON
ROTUNDA
2000
CD
SOLEILMOON RECORDINGSSOL 95CD
Rotunda, the latest CD from David Knight's Arkkon,
puts him/them/it in the first division of ambient keyboard doodling. Unlike
a plethora of others, Arkkon give the impression that every sound was
planned and that actual thought went into its construction, so it's not
the usual 30 minutes of synthesiser wash. While listening to the first
track, 'In Echelon', my enjoyment was somewhat spoiled by one sound,
a high pitched whirring, which seemed out of place. When this continued
into the second track, 'Pitchblende', I decided that either Mr
Knight needed his knuckles rapped or something was amiss. With the use
of the pause button I found this was not a musical aberration on the good
ship Arkkon but a car alarm from outside!
One of Arkkon's many plusses is that they don't fall into the trap of
trying to get keyboards to sound like Classical instruments. The real
thing played by cellist Sarah Bradshaw (sassy, one-time Sol
Invictus serf) is all the more powerful when it sets foot upon the
stage and complements with slow, long cool notes, the synthetic sounds.
Another girlie who struts her stuff is little Lydia Lunch who supplies
the words and voice to the final track 'Crimes against Nature'. So far
my favourite is 'Schlemmer', but the whole album deserves your attention.
TONY WAKEFORD - 16 May 2000
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