Roy Montgomery - Island of Lost Souls

Boomkat:

  Quote

Kiwi drone pop mainstay Roy Montgomery celebrates four decades of activity with a fresh set of shimmering moods, joining the dots between Slowdive's "Pygmalion" and Vangelis's legendary "Blade Runner" OST. Seriously it's that good.

We're not sure why New Zealand's Roy Montgomery isn't more widely appreciated; he's been working tirelessly for forty years at this point, and while his particular brand of exquisite dream pop is still consigned to the underground, his imitators are too numerous to mention. "Island of Lost Souls" is the first of four albums slated for release this year and serves as a welcome reminder of his compositional skill and restraint. Comprising four long tracks, the album is a sequence of dedications to some of Montgomery's biggest influences. Opener 'Cowboy Mouth (For Sam Shepard)' sounds like an effervescent shoegaze reimagining of Jean-Michel Jarre's "Oxygene", but considering the recently-passed American playwright and actor, you could almost hear it alongside Terrence Malick's "Days of Heaven", humming gently over the infinite sunset.

Each piece is built from transcendent layers of reverberating guitar, dense with harmony and dancing with flutter. If My Bloody Valentine showed one extreme this suggests another, a crushing quietness where extremity is found in meaning, resolve and discipline. This is never more evident on the album's epic closer, 'The Electric Children of Hildegard von Bingen (For Florian Fricke)', a track that honors the Popol Vuh founder and godfather of kosmische music, influenced by the 2nd century nun who inspired hundreds of years of music, science and theology. Musically, Montgomery wears his Fricke appreciation on his sleeve here, evoking fond memories of "Hosianna Mantra" with rhythmic, chiming strums that whirlpool into a blissful, transcendent abyss.

This is a cosmic corner of the musical universe that's often visited but rarely respected or explored successfully. For some reason, the crossover with new age attracts rogue elements, but hearing Montgomery in his comfort zone just reminds us how supreme the dream pop/kosmische crossover is when approached with sincerity and caution.

This one's going to be on rotation for a while - it's divine.

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I'm surprised some of you guys haven't given this a whirl. The last track, an homage to Florian Fricke is absolutely incredible. Robin Guthrie meets Kevin Shields with the ghost of Popol Vuh.

Maybe you get it on Spotify?

Been meaning to listen to this - thx for the reminder!

This is some glorious stuff.

  On 3/3/2021 at 3:02 AM, Extralife said:

This is some glorious stuff.

Indeed. It's gloriously uplifting - especially the Florian Fricke piece.

This is still my favourite thing so far this year.

  On 8/13/2021 at 10:54 PM, fumi said:

This is still my favourite thing so far this year.

Thanks for sharing with such specificity, I also approve the Hildegard reference in the title of the last track

(you should check her stuff if you haven't, I like ensemble Sequentia takes on her)

Yes, this is a great release. I love all Roy's stuff, but prefer the instrumentals.