In a world of great uncertainty, it’s sounds the likes of Elori Saxl and Henry Solomon offer that feel like a one-way ticket to an outer-world. Even the title of their debut collaboration LP, Seeing Is Forgetting, conveys something that lends itself to an out-of-body experience.
While the two artists have operated in slightly different places within the experimental sound world (Saxl’s work, predominately in film scores; Solomon’s, in collaboration as well as his sonic voyages in Outside World), the New York producer / composer and Los Angeles-based saxophonist join forces for an East-West trade-off that, in truth, sounds like it’s from neither place.
Seeing Is Forgetting sees Saxl and Solomon colour outside the lines. Soundscapes that move beyond the inner-city, chin-stroking realms of experimentalism to open space for all and sundry to consume. Perhaps there’s no better example than the fittingly titled Reno Silver. Saxl’s warm synths, radiating with soft colours, as space opens for Solomon’s baritone saxophone to fill.
It all begins with Reverence. Something designed for aimless late-night wanderings through deserted cities. So quiet, you can almost hear the blood running through your veins, as the music guides you from street to street.
Elori Saxl & Henry Solomon - Seeing Is ForgettingOn Raindrops, Saxl’s synths float on the top of the mix. Like Tangerine Dream dialled down to quarter-speed, Solomon’s bass clarinet slowly emerges like a rainbow piercing through the storm clouds. Heart hits a similar emotional frequency. A beautiful requiem tailored for cathedrals than any outer-church concern, here the pair conjure up dreamscapes that gently ride into the crescendo.
Then there’s the minimalism of Symmetries. Once again, the spacing is key, where vast terrains are all-consuming; the noise of life, evaporated through sound. And as its title suggests, Dream continues the theme. Saxl’s pulsating synths and Solomon’s saxophone echoes, feeling closer to the post-country meanderings SUSS than the inner-workings of sound design.
On Hiding Place and the title track, the communication feels naturally effortless, as Saxl and Solomon’s ideas gravitate to a point where they coalesce as one. Solomon’s saxophones, orbiting around Saxl’s soft synths in what is post-jazz bliss.
Whether it’s jazz, ambient, or both is neither here nor there. Lithe both in sound and feel, Seeing Is Forgetting finds Saxl and Solomon create an other-worldly mediation of sound that feels likes it’s ready to tackle the future. And if this is, indeed, the sound of it, then maybe there might be something worth living for?
Seeing Is Forgetting is Out Now via True Panther Records. Purchase from Bandcamp.
