Aspects of Physics :: MIF1 Review
2004-12-01
The Wire Issue 250 December 2004
Given that they labour under a name that sounds like a 50s textbook and that they choose the kind of album title more usually found adorning postgraduate dissertation, it does come as something of a surprise to discover that Aspects Of Physics actually produce rather approachable music. The group, formed by ex-members of the San Diego post-rock outfit Physics, have celebrated their liberation from the fleshy realm of guitar, bass and drums by making no fewer the three albums simultaneously – these are to be released between now and next summer. Ping is the first in the series, illustrating, we are told, “the point of view of the observer in relation to information”. This is as close to meaningless as any piece of prose I’ve encountered, but the abstract rigour it seems to promise is conspicuous by its absence in the music, which is a stately, elegiac blend of smooth, artful guitar figures and fluttering electronic tones. The title track “Ping” is neatly typical – opening with a polychromatic suite of analogue synth timbres, it slowly acquires a gathering swarm of digital clicks and shivers, to the accompaniment of a dolorous bass guitar part. Eventually warm guitar arpeggios enter, heralding the arrival of a relatively conventional structure and laying the foundations for the sweetly swelling climax that arrives some six minutes later.
-- Chris Sharp
