FOREST WALKER
"UV Sea" C37
(Constellation Tatsu)




If you were worried that a release by only half of SEABAT might fall flat, you’re in for one wooed awakening. Sounds like Forest Walker (Christenson) can not only hold his own, but run staggering loops around most of today’s ambient/new age/drone artists.

The key, here -and a Golden one, if I may say- is his seamless transitions between ever-nuanced, t!h!i!c!k! layers of teeming, evolving texture-vs-drone. What first comes on as shimmer then leads to possible rhythm…but then artfully recedes as another aural pose auditions. Furthermore, these interplays between blissful consonance and alluded dissonance is outright brilliant, and the contrapuntal cut-out collage of moodinesses is beyond inspiring for any tonal sound sculptor out there, amateur or seasoned.

The bottom line: This release will easily be noted as one of the best tapes of 2017, and right up there in good company with Sarah Davachi’s “Qualities of Bodies Made Permanent” (last year) as the very best of the Constellation Tatsu CAT-alogue.

https://ctatsu.bandcamp.com/album/uv-sea
and/or
http://www.forestwalkerchristenson.com/

-- Jacob An Kittenplan