Musician Ted Laderas uses his new record as The OO-Ray to process grief and loss. The pieces on Marginals are concise ruminations on those concepts, and gently experimental explorations of sound. What's here is both austere and full of emotion.
On opener "Floe", the cellist pierces the silence with a string figure, hints of electronics accentuate the track, while on the stark "163", the samples and electronic textures dominate. The sound is glacial in more ways than one, but the faint variations in the melodic pattern at the back of the track is what keeps things moving towards some distant horizon. It's stunning, and almost reminiscent of material from Fripp and Eno in decades past. Elsewhere, the gorgeous "Tunguska" seems positively lush in comparison to other parts of the musical journey here, while "Vajont" earns comparison to Ryuichi Sakamoto's soundtrack work.
An intensely personal album, Marginals stands apart from lots of what I've heard lately. It's simple, direct, and moving in an odd way. By integrating the electronic parts of his art with the cello playing, Ted Laderas is able to make a music all his own here as The OO-Ray. Highly recommended.
Marginals by The OO-Ray is out now via Beacon Sound is out this week. Details below.
[Photo: Brian Young]