Evolution is an album of ambient electronic music from Gill Higgins, probably best known to SNACK mag readers as half of CLR Theory. This first release under the Curlew name comes at the end of a long process of collaboration and development. It was initially born out of classes at GLOSS, the Glasgow Library of Synthesized Sound: a first-ofits- kind collection of modular electronic instruments collated by Lewis and Suzi Cook of Free Love and performance artist Scott Myles.
The use of the vintage equipment gives the album a timeless, retrofuturist feel. With four long tracks named for the four elements of Greek cosmology, it builds out layered vocal harmonies and drones tuned to opening chakras and healing frequencies, audio taken from the soil of a peace lily, field recordings of forests and birds and babbling streams, and NASA recordings of humpback whales. Combined with the crunch and arp of those old modular synths it feels at times like stumbling on a piece of library music, like the guided meditation of a well-meaning cult just before they tell you to abandon your worldly possessions.
Each act reflects the element that it’s named for. ‘Water’ is low and persistent, thrumming and throbbing along over slippery licks of melody that flow into the cavernous ‘Earth’, which rumbles and squelches with sub bass and pulsing waveforms. ‘Air’ blossoms with birdsong and a continual ascent, layering vocals and rhythms into an onward drive that pulls to abrupt drops and then catches back like a kite on the wind. ‘Fire’ makes the most of the bend and wobble of pitch modulation and flutter, the vocals soaring in a celestial chant while transistors crunch below.The journey through the piece soars to some feats of beauty but ultimately leaves the listener in a fairly pessimistic space, the dwindling of the closing track like a scorching of what came before into something barren.
Premiered as part of the Glasgow Science Festival, Higgins says that the album is a comment on the erosion of our connection with nature. One to absorb yourself in after a nice cup of mushroom tea.
Evolution is out now on Bandcamp and streaming platforms. Available here.
