THE BRITISH SPACE GROUP 'THE MACHINERY OF THE MOMENT' CDR
May 2022
Following the excellent 'The Ley of the Land' The BSG returns with another great album of mysterious ambiences & atmospheres. Recommended!
'The Machinery of the Moment' tells a story of an extended moment. Of the point where perception of time - or perhaps even time itself - collapses and we exist in a state of timelessness; a minute in an hour, an hour in a minute, a lifetime lived in the second between the tick and the tock'.
"Think of it as part of a lineage with Zoviet France and Pan Sonic as well as one of the best ambient releases you might hear this year."
- Buzz Magazine
Review from Vital Weekly : For a great number of years Ian Holloway releases some great music, sometimes under his own name or in guises, such as The British Space Group. His activities aren't exclusively music-based, but his Wyrd Britain blog also has book reviews, stories and soon. As I am playing the music here, I was thinking about 'wyrd', and not so much 'Briatin', even when stories are about that land specific. Is the music released by Wyd Briatain weird, or not? Or, perhaps, is this the sountrack to play whle reading weird stories? "The Wyrd Britain label expands on this theme by releasing music that also tells stories, music with a narrative and a sense of the mysterious that would be at home within the occult territories of a stranger Britain.", so maybe it can go various ways? Holloway has quite a body of music available over the last twenty years, running various labels and musical projects. A common thread in his musical world can be described by such words as 'drone', 'ambient' and 'atmosphere'. This new release doesn't disappoint in that, as Holloway may shift a bit around with his sound, now including a bit more 'rhythmical' sounds ('A Return To The Moment'), or a modern electronic aproach, such as in 'A Chronal Equinox'. His full-on droneexperience is on 'Ghost Frequency', with is carefull crackling drones, but here to sparse traces of rhythm (maybe samples of fences along the road?). Whatever shape it takes, all four pieces are mysterious and, perhaps, telling a story. Or, with the titles these piece hve, you can think of a story yourself, as it is easily all open for your own imagination. These days, Holloway isn't as active anymore, it seems, and this release proofs that it is a pity. Two longer pieces and two pretty short; I wouldn't have minded all of these a bit longer. (Frans De Waard)
"[...] pleasingly unsettling and completely immersive. A haunted house of an album, I love it."
- Grey Malkin (The Hare and The Moon)
"Immersive, thoroughly engaging and always progressing but still focussed in the moment - a simultaneous balance of stasis and motion. A very peaceful listen."
- Adrian Shenton (Phonospheric)
"Sitting with it is like sitting in an endless moment at the end of a dream, and I like it very much."
- Warren Ellis (author)
