Radical Face - Let The River In

Let the river in has caught my ear while I listen to this album for the first time. I think the combination of soundscape elements like children's voices and strings which are often associated with the cinema have helped paint a picture in my imagination. The track opens with these voices and their footsteps as they run around the stereo field whilst the piano opens the simplistic element of the track that is built on by bells and guitar (or perhaps lute). With a short pause, the strings make their entrance under a whispering vocal. There continues an interplay between vocals/strings with piano and lute in a call and response relationship that builds until all elements come together with the drums. I particularly like this call and response dynamic as the pairing of similar voices offset each other very nicely. The vocals and the strings support each other with flowing and swelling textures while the bells and guitar/lute are delicate yet staccato in comparison.

Juxtaposing the flow of the other elements in this track is the highly syncopated and complex rhythms of the drums and percussion. I count the groove in 3/4 with snare anchored to beat 3 and the metronome says it's 95bpm. There is an emphasis on the pairing of odd rhythms rather than a 'danceable' back beat. The rhythms of the bells I heard just before the drums enter lines up pretty well with the drums' pattern. As for the tone of the drums, it's quite variegated with many 'voices' utilized. In the second installment of drums the use of 'rim-knocks' are quite prevalent. It's these rim-knocks that make a strong impression for the reverb and delay that puts them in quite a large space. Additionally, there are two simultaneous 'performances' of the rim-knock with one panned to the left and the other to the right. The small differences in timing between them creates a nice natural texture to the sound whilst supporting the width of the stereo image.

There's so much to write about in this track, however I'm going to move on for now and maybe come back to it later.