First Glances – M. Sage
Matthew Sage last saw mention on the pages of [sic] in late 2011 when we tipped his speaker-blown noise-rockers Wellington Downs for success as part of our notes for the forthcoming year. The project didn’t quite (or yet) fulfil its early promise, but just as you can’t keep a good dog down, neither can you a determined creative and Sage is certainly that, running the Patient Sounds label out of Fort Collins, Colorado when he’s not diving headlong into various musical exploits (which also includes M. Pyres & The Skygaze Family Band , as well as Kick Majestic , doncha know).
As M. Sage however, his work to date has always been more artistic and thus in line with the physical collages that occupy his time away from Patient Sounds. It’s no surprise then to find that his recently dropped debut on Moon Glyph – The Receivers Peaking – continues this conceptual trend of contemplative cut-and-paste loops, psychedelic overlaps and conflicting passages of ambient noise.
Two 10+ minute backbones anchor the collection of abstract titles – the post-rock-inflected minimalism of “Campaign Cycles/Harrowing Straits” (the extremes of which nudge into the red, flat-lining the equipment) and all twelve minutes of “The Apocraphyl Atlases”, which ranges from solemn beats to bleeding static and transcendental chill. Of the remaining ambient-drone ditties, “Fuji Station: Confines Of Time” and “Ritual Ashes (For: B. Brady)” are the most notable – the former for its vaguely Lost In Translation twinkling and the latter for its blissful rain capture and lovely wandering guitar echo.
Welcome back to these pages Mr Sage. And may we meet on many more occasions.
~The Receivers Peaking casette is out now Moon Glyph .~