This project had such potential. Celtic music lends itself very nicely to being mixed with modern dance beats, and no one makes such cultural fusions work better than Bill Laswell -- witness in particular his very fine
Imaginary Cuba album and countless other bubbly multicultural musical stews. On
Emerald Aether, the idea was to take tracks from Shanachie's enviably deep Celtic catalog (including performances by singer
Karan Casey, flutist
Matt Molloy, piper
Jerry O'Sullivan, and the band
Solas) and place them like green jewels in Laswell's trademark space-funk settings. And in several cases, it works really well -- "The Stride Set," a set of reels by
Solas, is nicely energized by Laswell's breakbeats, and the echoey ambience he applies to
O'Sullivan's "Wind Chimes and Nursery Rhymes" works very well, too. But too many of these tracks are ruined by Laswell's ignorance (or, it seems more likely, simple disregard) of modal harmony in general and the key centers of the individual songs in particular. His settings of
Karan Casey's performances add chord washes that bear no apparent harmonic relationship to the keys
Casey is singing in, which means that her singing clashes unpleasantly with the music that is supposed to be supporting her. The same thing happens rhythmically with the dubwise drum'n'bass setting that Laswell builds for
Matt Molloy's rendition of "The Hare in the Heather" -- there's no reason why the beats couldn't have meshed with
Molloy's played rhythms, and the final product would have much more compelling if they had. Despite some inspired moments, this album is a real disappointment overall.
¡
Aquí!
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