Sad City - Shapes in Formation (2016)

Emotional Response, Meda Fury and R&S Records are delighted to come together to present Sad City’s long waited debut LP. After critically acclaimed EPs for Underwater Peoples and Phonica Special Editions, this stunning long player has been in gesgastion for years but arrives with perfect alacrity.

Northern Irish born, Glasgow based musician Gary Caruth has steadily been buildling a successful ouvere of releases from his 2011 debut Gestures EP to appearing on Emotional Response’s Schleißen series last Spring.

Recorded as one listening experience, Shapes In Formation mixes a love of field recordings with deep ambient soundscapes atop incessant percussive loops. The melancholic sonics bely ethereal tones that transport to that place where music and the silent reality of the world merges.

Moving beyond his recent ambient explorations, side opener Rain points to something beyond, a swirling meld of vocal loops and rhythmic pulses that promise anew. More follows in Pace, (Movements I to IV) and Peoples + Plants, taking the sonic exploration onwards, creating compositions of symphonic beauty that challenge the listener to travel on distant, tribal syncopation.

All this comes together with the rolling drum of Steady Jam. A delicate balance of restrained percussion, hissing hats and the bliss of gospel Sundays create a tapestry that harks to Parrish’s Sound Signature as much to Cluster and Eno. Finally, to end via Smoke, Water and Again, the album’s journey is shaped as a truly unique form(ation).