When I first got a good look at Spark I, I was thrilled. It had been far too long since a piece of music has gotten me excited just from looking at it, and I was already pondering what sounds could be found inside this package. The artwork is simply a picture of some complex, mysterious circuit board, with an equally intriguing symbol cut out of vinyl and stuck atop the sleeve. Add in that this is a 3-inch CD-R (one of my all-time favorite formats), and I'm sold. But I'm still full of questions: What is this circuit? Is it one of the members mothers old fax machine, the board of a Commodore 64 or some other archaic processor, or maybe a synthesizer used on the album? Some questions are better left unanswered.
Turns out Spark I is the first in a two-part series of recordings by Amalgamated, recorded live at a venue in La Salle, Illinois, and then cut, chopped, screwed, and re-processed into two 3" CD-Rs. Now, usually knowing the method in which a record is conceived doesn't make much of a difference to me as a listener, however knowing that most of this music was improvised and not premeditated actually makes me appreciate the music more, as the level of cohesion found here is impecable. This is clearly ambient music, not drone music, though what the difference is, I couldn't say. At times I'm reminded of Phillip Glass and Tangerine Dream, and at other times I feel Amalgamated is closer to Miss Kittin and The Hacker or VNV Nation. The beats that fade in and out of the wall of synthesizers and samples are so subtle, so tasteful, so perfect, that I'm pretty sure I even caught my dog nodding her head subconsciously.
Spark I evokes stream of consciousness images of science fiction as well as futurism, and at 23 minutes long, doesn't overstay its welcome as so many modern-day ambient projects do. When the disc is over you feel neither unquenched nor over-satiated. I'd even go so far as to say I felt refreshed after hearing Spark I in its entirety. At $4PPD a disc and $3 a download, I'd say this would sit nicely on a shelf right between Brian Eno and Akira Yamaoka.
[Amalgamated Bandcamp]
[Buy Spark I from Intangible Cat]
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