The Clogs and The Seven Fields of Aphelion

Reviews by Theo Andrews

Band: The Seven Fields of Aphelion
Album: Periphery
RIYL: Jon Brion/Brian Eno

The Seven Fields of Aphelion is an epic title for a solo artist, but given the nature of the music, it’s a perfect fitting for the various textures revealed throughout the music.

Every track on the album has multiple layers: spacey synthesizer, with ambiance galore, provides the base while industrial sound effects supply a certain sense of abstractness. On the surface, light piano is played to establish some much needed lyricism. The piano, however, is the most important part of the music; it serves as the gloss over the paint.

Three tracks in particular fully emphasize the aforementioned description: “Slow Subtraction,” “Grown” and “Mountain Mary.” Each track has growing and declining synthesizer with piano providing the emotional impact. If unable to picture this, then think of the soundtrack to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Aphelion’s music can best be described as meditative: perfect of one stays in a spot for a very long period of time. The music appeals to the senses much more than just the eardrums. The music isn’t danceable or foot tapping, but it isn’t bizarre enough to be labeled a turn-off.


Band: Clogs Album:
Genre: Traditional/Classical Folk
RIYL: The Chieftans

The Clogs is a traditional band bordering on the realm between indie and classical folk.
Through its music, the band shows its musical roots, which sounds like it derived from the highlands of Ireland where it isn’t uncommon to hear troubadours belt out tunes.

The new album is a song cycle with all acoustic instrumentation with classically trained voices that almost sound like jam sessions. “Red Seas,” for example, begins with beautiful guitar that is eventually joined by a bouncing beat of percussion that sounds like it was played on a wooden box. Toward the end of the song, wind instrumentation dominates which leaves the listener asking: “what am I listening to?”

The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton is steeped in escapism. Since the album is a song cycle, there’s a story if you listen to the songs in chronological order.