matt krefting: high hopes

"High Hopes is recording of music for cassettes. While the general tone is experimental, the structural elements of song are not left behind. Each side is a continuous statement comprised of brief motifs and repetitive strains bleeding into one another, coalescing into a cold narrative of half-remembered, slow mbiras, 78s of an orchestra in endless refrain, a confused piano, a vocal hosanna... While the pacing allows a certain introspection and the tape fidelity allows a certain detachment, direction and concision are not sacrificed. Elements from side A reappear on side B recomposed, and an overall tone of melancholy is maintained throughout. E.M. Cioran said, 'A heart without music is like beauty without melancholy.' Here... you've got it all." -- Greg Kelley