This second performance at Painted Bride Arts Centre opens with a dark organ-like drone which ultimately provides the foundation for the whole gig. However, this is not static. There’s a sense of movement as short figures, bells, and horn-like glissando, come and go, their echoes trailing off into the huge, cold distance. While the transition from Spacescape to Dreamscape is seamless, at around a minute or so, Fripp gradually introduces a glimmer of uplifting string tones whose effect is to lighten the gravity of those sonorous low drones.
What makes Soundscapes interesting is the degree to which Fripp convincingly evokes a sense of scale, whether it is a cavernous cathedral-like environment or in the case of Moving Bell Hover and Spacescape II, down into the rumbling engine room of some vast space-going liner. And then there’s his ability to manipulate sounds so that they become oppressive and even claustrophobic. A compelling exploration of distance and ambiguity quite unlike any others from the tour.
