Keyboard wizard Meg Bowles has once again reinvigorated the space music genre, much as she did with her previous release, Blue Cosmos. From the Dark Earth is a recording that ventures far afield into the dark waters of futuristic space jazz. Some people I have discussed the CD with have said it sounds like "Miles Davis does Blade Runner." I'd say that comes close, but words are inaccurate to describe this fascinating and ultra-moody recording. If the Miles Davis allusion above didn't make it clear, this CD features not just Meg, but guest trumpet player David Bilger from the Philadelphia Orchestra as well. And he's not just on a couple of songs, either. The combination of Meg's swirling liquid black-as-night synths, her subtle muted tribal rhythms, and David's sometimes-muted, sometimes-not trumpet is mesmerizing. The net result of the two playing together is some of the most evocative and visual music I have heard in many years. The effect literally sent chills up my spine the first time I heard it.
The images that come to my mind when playing this CD may be different than most people (from what I have gathered). I view From the Dark Earth not as "outer" space music (despite titles like "neptune's daughter," "the forgotten valley" and "night sun journey") but as 21st century ambient space jazz, with a decidedly urban feel to it. The Blade Runner reference above alludes to those Vangelis pieces in the film's soundtrack where he also used bluesy trumpet over his lush keyboards. Meg and David have done some of the same thing, except they have dialed both the mystery and the "smoke" up a bit. Where Vangelis' music was neo-romantic in a retro-noir way, Meg and David have their feet planted firmly in the future.
Picture, if you will, city streets at 3 am, wet with just-fallen rain. Neon lights fizzle and crackle, their glare reflected in the wet black of the pavement. Somewhere, a spinner whizzes by above you. Distant conversations bounce off the brick walls of alley buildings, somehow intensifying your solitude. You belong to nothing but the night. You're desperate for a bar, where you can drown the bad taste of the city's bitterness in your mouth. That's what this music is about for me. It speaks of loneliness, despair, and wandering adrift in a sea of darkness that both comforts and strangles you. All of this is wrapped up in Meg's awesome space music flourishes'lush lower register synths, subtle hypnotic beats, washes of keyboards that are both warm and inviting and yet strangely disturbing.
Every cut on this CD is masterful, so I won't single any out. Instead, I'll just close by saying the Meg and David have delivered a modern classic and a recording that redefines the limits of space music.
From the Dark Earth is a milestone and it is an absolutely essential for sophisticated space and ambient music fans everywhere.
