Portland, Oregon drone duo
Golden Retriever
are part of the 2010s' wave of instrumental experimental drone that expands on some of the forms visited in the noise and post-rock scenes a decade before it, the icy electronic soundtrack music of the '80s, and the cosmic synth wandering of '70s Krautrock. The pantheon of blissed-out droners that
belong to is vast, with like-minded artists such as
White Rainbow
,
Infinite Body
Emeralds
Dolphins into the Future
, and many others all taking different approaches at meditative washy music, usually in the form of extended pieces. At first blush,
aren't too different from their peers, but they create something removed from the usually guitar-derived sounds of their contemporaries through their uncommon instrumentation of
Matt Carlson
's analog modular synthesizer and
Jonathan Sielaff
's bass clarinet. With their second proper full-length,
Occupied with the Unspoken
, the duo layers and processes these two monophonic instruments into lush explorations of shifting tones and movement. The four pieces included were recorded by the band and edited down from lengthy, partially improvised compositions into four concise micro-epics. The glimmering synth tones of "Canopy" set a rich backdrop for
Sielaff
's softly crying processed clarinet lines, with different arpeggiated keyboard sounds bubbling up and cascading away as the song ebbs and flows like waves softly running toward the beach on a cloudy northwestern morning. The group doesn't stick to straight drone sounds, but branches out into noisier and more musical moments alike, as with the sputtering electronics that begin "Eudaimonia" or the reflective jazzy riffing that defines album closer "Winter Light."
is a patient, calculated effort, more reined in than the band's free-flowing debut
Light Cones
or any number of their small-run cassette or CD-R releases. It loses none of its strength through its restraint or editing, but instead
make more space to observe the subtle shifts and moods that run through their glowing bliss-outs and softly cinematic soundscapes. The group's atypical instrumentation and inventive use thereof results in captivating if mercurial waves of sound and a listening experience that reveals its complex nature as it goes on. ~ Fred Thomas