This release by Orson Carroll, Here, Tomorrow, Here/Half Light, begins with a low, droning synth pad. A pad with a hint of bell harmonics plays, and there is a little bit of dissonance as the lower frequencies fight for space. The notes are not entirely lacking consonance, but do evoke a certain degree of tension. As the melody and harmony develops, there is a droning rumble from which the sound seems to emerge, as notes are played together in a lower register, where there is usually but a single note playing. But there is some consonance—and also dissonance.
The bass rumbles as the keys allow the full ADSR envelope to play out, stretching out each note so that it can be heard first obscurely, then clearly. The aforementioned hint of bell harmonics can be heard more on some notes than others, but it gives the notes a lot of harmonic content as they interact with each other, with some harmonics fitting together, and others creating tension. After playing for nearly ten minutes, all but one droning instrument fades out, and then the song cuts out.
In the next track, “Half Light”, a formant patch makes a synth that sounds a little like a human voice, and the filters on it give it a distinctly surreal quality as it plays, like the last track, not quite in complete consonance with itself. The harmony develops with a tension and release that is quite palpable. The different notes being played with the patch used have different qualities when played at different frequencies, and sound like many voices singing with each other, and like they’re overcoming disagreements as the dissonance resolves into consonance. At the end, all stops playing except for one voice, which continues to sing, and then abruptly ends.
(https://orsoncarroll.bandcamp.com/album/here-tomorrow-here-half-light, €3 EUR for digital)
