Short Reviews [The Forever Moment - 2024 - "Splay"]

The Forever Moment is a project of Arlington, Texas musician Mark Cook (Herd of Instinct, Liquid Sound Company, T.A.P) and Peterborough, Ontario musician/artist Steven Leak. It was apparently born out of a desire to hear what would happen when they melded their music with the intention of pressing each other forwards creatively. This is their second album, with Steven Leak (Arturia Microfreak, Arturia Minifreak, Red Panda Tensor and Particle pedals, TC Infinite Sampler, Zoom Multistomp, field recordings and found sounds) working with Mark Cook (fretted and fretless Warr guitars, fretless bass, Korg Minilogue and Monologue synthesizers, electric and acoustic pianos, classical guitar, samples and drums) along with guest Ottmar Soulier (keyboards, trumpet, and percussion). This is soundscape music with progressive, electronic and avant garde tendencies which one can imagine fans of Marcus Reuter or Trey Gunn getting a great deal from. This is not music which follows any sort of mainstream path, and the drums have a major role in moving this from the ambient into something more powerful. This is music which needs to be played in a darkened room when the listener has the time to do just that and can devote themselves to the experience without distractions as otherwise one will just not hear the subtleties of what is taking place between their ears. There are times when the music is more overtly electronic, having Tangerine Dream tendencies, but always with the drums having an important part to play. If this style of music is of interest to you then this is definitely worth seeking out.