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K. Leimer, "Permissions"
No stranger to ambient music, Kerry Leimer has been active since the late 1970s, creating his own synthetic compositions when the genre was in its infancy. Permissions is, in part, a collaborative work with Taylor Deupree (who produced the album and added to some of the tracks. The resulting album is a long form album that both conjures the early days of electronic music, but in a distinctly modern framework.
Permissions is conceptually a form of "disassembled music," in which something that resembles a conventional song is pulled apart to its core elements and then are reshaped and processed into something else entirely.On the sixth part of the album (which is made up of 16 untitled pieces), this is quite clear, with its erratic, unpredictable thuds and fragmented guitar sounding like traditional music clinically dissected.The same sensibility is evident at the end on the 14th piece, which has the same mix of occasional beats and note clusters.
Other parts come across as more straight ahead ambient, such as the reversed metallic percussion and murky layers of the 11th segment: it feels less adventurous but more meditative.The same goes for the melancholy, glacial pace of the seventh piece that is a bit more grounded and stable compared to those around it.
The remainder of the album lurks in that purgatory between complex, almost musical pieces and sparse, more skeletal studies.The third piece pairs disembodied synth beeps in a swirling space with microscopic pieces of guitar scrapes and far off bass heavy formless drones.Immediately after is a pastiche of icy winds and unidentifiable tones, with what could be power tools being used off in the distance for added effect.There remains a delicate beauty, even though there is a slightly more frigid feel to the track.
Given the length of the album as a whole, it is not too surprising that there are a few moments that did not fully click with me, although they are few and far between.At times the fragmented swirl of guitar, strings and synths become a bit too disjointed and chaotic, which is just made more obvious with understated surrounding tracks.Also, at times, the untreatedguitar sound is simply veers too close to new age muzak for my ears.
On the whole though, the weaker moments are well outshined by the stronger ones that make up the bulk of the album.In addition to Leimer's compositional strength, there is that organic but digital sheen that is quite familiar for anyone that is versed in Taylor Deupree's solo work, but it never overshadows the underlying material.Permissions makes for a strong, modern take on ambient with a healthy bit of deconstructed pop music that erratically makes itself known.
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