(2020) Three Point Circle - Layered Contingencies


Review:
One of the more interesting things about Layered Contingencies has to do with the connection between its creators, K. (Kerry) Leimer, Marc Barreca, and Steve Peters. The fruits of their initial collaboration as Three Point Circle arose when they gathered for two shows in Olympia, Washington in 1980. A mere four decades later, the trio decided the time was ripe for a group recording, the really major surprise being that the three haven’t pooled their efforts until now. After all, each has been an integral part of Palace of Lights’ history, and Leimer and Barreca have issued a number of collaborations on the label. While fragments of guitar, electric piano, and bell tones occasionally rise to the surface of these oceanic soundscapes, their generally blurry design tends to camouflage the identifying aspects of their components. Each of the five settings unfolds in a spirit of unhurried drift, the slow pace allowing the listener to closely monitor the material as it develops and examine the mutating sound design. All are long-form pieces spanning twelve to sixteen minutes, but there are discernible contrasts too. Whereas the opening “A Disproven Theory” is marked by incessant activity, the subsequent “Vertical Hold” opts for a kind of peaceful, slow-motion minimalism in its gently evolving undulations of organ tones and synthetic swirls. It’s the kind of music where tiny gestures assume pronounced significance when their appearance disrupts the stillness of the meditative backdrop. Even quieter, “Aurora” punctuates its haunted hush with glassy shimmer, electronic buzzing, and percussive accents. Such ghostly material will naturally conjure different things for different listeners; for me, the material at one moment suggests an evocation of the interior of Miss Havisham’s decaying mansion and at another the loneliness and barrenness of deep space. Punctuating the stormy combustion of “The Wyatt Dreams” is a rattling noise, its insistent ebb-and-flow suggestive of a sleeper’s breathing rhythms. Agitation sometimes surfaces—a brief episode of turbulence sets in during the closing minutes of “Unrest,” for example—but Three Point Circle largely opts for a generally becalmed presentation. All things considered, Layered Contingencies is quintessential Palace Of Lights material that, truth be told, could conceivably have been released under the name of any one of the participants, even if text accompanying the release contends the result distances itself from the individual habits and traits of its members.





Tracklist:
01 - A Disproven Theory
02 - Vertical Hold
03 - Aurora
04 - Unrest
05 - The Wyatt Dreams


Media Report:
Genre: ambient
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits