Review by : Foxy Digitalis

Richard Skelton?s new project A Broken Consort tap?s into a bountiful vein of sound. Sitting somewhere comfortably between Flying Saucer Attack?s ?Further?, the first Six Organs of Admittance album and Tony Conrad?s ?Early Minimalism,? ?The Shape of Leaves? is a seemingly timeless work of multilayered string drones augmented by subtle percussion and the scraping of strings. While Skelton?s reference points are sometimes very obvious, ?The Shape Leaves? remains a deeply personal and evocative listening experience.

A Broken Consort exists in a mist-enshrouded world of melancholy. This is music for the late evening hours or the grey, days of winter. Best reserved for moments when one will not be interrupted so that one is able to drift off, ruminate, and lose oneself in this record. A time to slip away, sip on wine, read poetry, or contemplate some transcendental image.

Moving through ?The Shape Leaves? one finds that each track exists in a similar space, contains similar textures with delicately shifting changes. The intent was most likely to capture the listener within its space for the duration of the disc. The main sounds are created from a variety of bowed string instruments creating a large mass of droning overtones. Adding to this is the soft rumbling of distant percussion, well-placed acoustic guitar meditations and the occasional scrape and pluck of the strings.

What makes the music on ?The Shape Leaves? so successful is Skelton?s careful attention to the positioning of each sound in the mix. The percussion is just audible enough to sound like it is coming from several miles away, while the location of strings come from indiscernible points both near and far creating a feeling of slow and drifting movement. ?The Shape Leaves? experientially could be compared to walking through the woods alone, during the first snow, where the normal sounds of the world are hushed and all initially appears rather silent, yet subtle nuances are continually drifting in and out of focus from all points. 9/10 -- Cory Card (18 December, 2006)