artist: Noise Reduction Society country of origin: USA style(s): Experimental electronica, avant-garde essential releases: Leaving Venice (James Hegarty Music)

James Hegarty is clearly an interesting guy. He does much theatrical work and live performance and on one such occasion came up with the brilliantly original idea of having the audience be part of the performance by using their mobile phones. During the intermission audience members called up friends and asked them to phone back at a specific time when the music was playing in the second half.

Though not nearly as playful as that little exercise, the ambient music of Leaving Venice is the sound of an artist striving for something similarly fresh and original, this time in the studio. The composer calls it a mix of Intelligent Dance Music, acid jazz and experimental electronica but even that might be misleading. Producing a work both original and easily accessible strikes me something of a Holy Grail in serious music yet this album manages to achieve it. The music is structured but subtle, strongly tonal yet all a little strange. Samples of a female soprano appear regularly across the album's eight tracks but on "Midnight Passage, for example, Hegarty deploys the said samples in a stuttering, rhythmic way.

Leaving Venice is a quiet, unassuming gem from an American artist with much to say. Unreservedly recommended for anyone who appreciates intelligent electronica without the wince-inducing "digital glitch" trappings favoured by many experimentalists across the other side of the Atlantic.

HOME