CD, Miasmah, 2006
www.greghaines.co.uk
This first album of Mr. Haines – residing in the UK – has five tracks which are in between 5 and 13 minutes. It is kind of hard to describe the style of the tracks. They do have a heavy soundscape-ish structure, but on the other hand they are quite open. The result is an album that will definitely appeal to a larger audience.
The sound on the album is heavily classical influenced. It can be considered a mixture between modern classical and ambient. The fact that Mr. Haines plays cello and that the music contains sounds of organ and xylophones only adds to the classical feel.
In a recent interview Mr. Haines sort of disagrees with the use of the term melancholic in regard to his music. However, it is the term that comes quite close to what my first thoughts were. Looking at the exact meaning of ‘melancholic’ we find that it doesn’t only mean ‘gloomy’ and ‘sad’ but also ‘soberly thoughtful’ and ‘pensive reflection’ or ‘contemplation’. And those meanings definitly apply to this release.
So we have an album which is good. Very good. It’s all organic and sincere feelings, captured by a xylophone, a cello and Kristin, whose voice can also be found in Svarte Greiner’s “Knife” album – and Svarte Greiner in his turn is the owner of the label who releases ‘Slumber Tides’. It’s a small world… But damn, it’s beautiful.
[7.5/10]
— Bauke van der Wal