Buck Curran - 2023 - The Long Distance [mini-review]

(53:51; Obsolete Recordings)

US artist Buck Curran are out with the album "The Long Distance", and this is a production that may be of interest also for fans of progressive rock. In terms of general style I'd say that this is an album situated at the crossroad between ambient music, experimental electronic music and progressive electronic music, featuring elements from all of these traditions while not strictly adhering to any of them. In terms of the elements used we get surging and fluctuating slow moving and majestic keyboard textures, often backed by a drone undercurrent of reverberating noise and sound effects of various kinds., More often than not with a bit of a cosmic or otherworldly feel, and generally with a bleak and cold atmosphere and occasionally with more of a brooding or menacing darkness to the landscapes explored. We get a little bit of a pastoral and acoustic guitar driven break amidst the electronic sounds though, and towards the end of the core album we also get a more energetic affair revolving around a sequencer rhythm. We also get a succession of alternative versions of many of the songs tucked away at the end of this production: The core album here is a bit of a concise affair as far as playtime is concerned, so a grand total of 8 alternative versions have been included here. If you tend to enjoy bleak, dystopian and alien moods and atmospheres conjured by way of synthesizers and electronic sounds, then this is an album that merits an inspection.

Olav "Progmessor" Björnsen, November 2023

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/BuckCurranMusic/
https://www.facebook.com/ObsoleteRecordings/