review :: anonymous
I have concluded (using a rigorous experimental method) that Main records are about the best
music to fall asleep to, and this is one of the best ones for that purpose. That stated, if you don't
stop reading right here, we can continue.
The gorgeous packaging gives some indication of what to expect - numerous beautiful, rich
textures competing for your attention. There isn't very much real music per se, nor is there even
much to catch your attention, but it's incredibly effective ambience in the strictest sense of the
word. The quiet clicks, hums, and scrapes become as much a part of your environment as the chair
you're sitting on (or the bed you're falling asleep on). The one exception to this rule is the last
track (uh, 'XV' - you can guess the other track titles), which instead of just using the sounds of
machines malfunctioning with the typical Hampson glacial guitar drone (I should mention that
Hampson's guitar abuse is about the most distinctive in existence - you know it's Main pretty
quickly), actually makes the glacier shift - in other words, there's more than one chord. Now,
much like a glacier, it doesn't shift very often or very quickly (maybe once in three or four
minutes), but it grounds the rest of noise in something almost concrete. I think it's beautiful - very
desolate, very spaced out, verging on epic (reminds me a bit of Labradford), but not any less
abstract than the rest of the songs. Possibly the best thing I've heard from Hampson.
