Yellow6: About The Journey
Sound In Silence

About The Journey, Jon Attwood's second Yellow6 release on Sound In Silence (an album-length 2012 collaboration with David Newlyn the other), features six long-form guitar explorations, the shortest weighing in at eight minutes and the longest fifteen. Throughout the recording, he shows himself to be an expert at crafting an effective slow-burn, though that shouldn't come as a major surprise to anyone familiar with the considerable body of work he's issued on labels such as Three:Four Records, Silber, and his own Editions6. This seventy-five-minute solo set by the Leicestershire, UK-based Attwood is sure to satisfy lovers of meditative, guitar-centered soundscaping.

Being the generous lengths they are, the settings have the luxury of developing unhurriedly, with Attwood judiciously stacking one layer upon another and building moods with care. “Custom” inaugurates the release on a brooding and sombre note, after which “First Day #1” changes things up by supplementing slowly accumulating layers of tremolo and twang with a generally unobtrusive beat pattern. “Death of Nostalgia (Further Back)” revisits the sombre tone of the opener, though this time with ample doses of echo and reverb (plus softly murmuring voice effects) completing the sound design, while “Last Day” drenches its descending melodic patterns with melancholy, even if this time Attwood also batters the gentle picking and ambient washes with a squall of guitar fuzz.

Don't be surprised if you find yourself swept away by the lilting drift of Attwood's material as the minutes tick by. Its tone is wholly in keeping, by the way, with the release's theme, which has to do with the familiar lesson about life being a journey rather than destination (on a card included with the release, Attwood advises, “Rather than race blindly towards the finish line, look around as you pass by, enjoy the scenery, experience everything”). A platitude it might be, but still one worth attending to.

Like many a Sound In Silence release, About The Journey is available in two editions, the first a limited edition of 100 handmade and hand-numbered collectible copies; the second (apparently sold out) augments its 100 handmade and hand-numbered collectible copies with an exclusive bonus CD featuring a recent Yellow6 live appearance and a previously unreleased twenty-minute piece (both editions come with a download of the physical release).

December 2017