Cyndee Lee Rule - UFOsmosis

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Cyndee Lee Rule - UFOsmosis

Artist:	Cyndee Lee Rule
Title:	UFOsmosis
Label:	self produced IR37029
Length(s):	59 minutes
Year(s) of release:	2005
Month of review:	[03/2006]

Line up

Cyndee Lee Rule - electric violin, sample loop and drum programming
Steven Davies-Morris and Greg Amov - the rest including sample loop and drum programming

Tracks

1)	Putting The Rip In Strip	7.17
2)	Congress Reel	2.47
3)	As Go The Moments	6.24
4)	The Inner Light	2.34
5)	Scarborough Fair	2.48
6)	Seven Cities Of Gold	9.06
7)	Assassins Of Allah	4.21
8)	Weekend Affair	6.16
9)	What On Earth?	6.29
10)	Telekinetigram	4.50
11)	Something I Should Have Said	6.03

Summary

In addition to quite a number of covers, the music on this album is from Rule and Davies-Morris. The back insert shows a young girl with an aerodynamic violin, indicating more or less what to expect.

The music

Putting The Rip In Strip is a quiet opener, still even. The music is very effect rich, I guess mainly due to the violin. The rhythms are programmed, and that fits the music, which is a bit spacey in character at first, but later also has Arabic elements, in a disjointed, noisy kind of way. The violin playing is of the meandering and slightly distorted. In between we hear friendly sequencers, but also some power chords on the guitar.

Congress Reel is indeed a folk reel, with Rule going for a fast typically folky kind of play. The drums seem programmed and follow with very quick rolls.

As Go The Moments follows a bit the same vein of the opener: slightly Arabic melodies, wailing style, a bit disjointed and even Crimsonesque in places, with easy going electronics in between. There is a strong contrast between the soft and warm moods of the electronic parts and the disquiet raised by the violin.

The Inner Light is in Indian raga style, done in overdrive with modern rhythms. The violin work is a weavework that again comes over as rather restless, but that fits well in my general impression of sitar music. The song is by George Harrison by the way.

Scarborough Fair is of course a very well-known tune. On this version, the violin plays the lead melody (with slight distortation), but in the back, I guess using guitar, we get even more distortion. The version is relatively fast, and with programmed percussives (there could be some live drumming among it, who knows). Anyway, the rhythm section makes it a very automatic sounding track. Not a version I particularly like. I like it most when the distortion is so strong, I do not recognize it as Scarborough Fair.

Seven Cities Of Gold is with almost ten minutes the longest song on this album. Strikingly, many songs are covers, but the longer ones are songs by the band, and these songs also come out most natural and best. This is often due to the large amount of electronics and the fact that the violin, here played in Stuart Gordon style (Hammill), is more melodic. I guess the band also does less its best to sound different from the original. The melody is open and friendly. Lots of melodies and instruments vie for your attention, giving a bit of a fugue feel to the whole affair, but some of the melodies (especially those on acoustic guitar) are repetitive and evoke Paco de Lucia and the like. The end result is a bit disjointed.

Assassins Of Allah is a jumpy Hawkwind cover. The speed is high, that holds as well for the original. The rhythm section goes for pacey percussion this time, in a strongly monotonous way, but it fits the song. Highly energetic.

We have now left the covers behind. Weekend Affair opens with dreamy Fender Rhodes and soft washes of violin. Later the beat sets in, and it seems we have arrived in Daft Punk territory. Not an improvement. Typical for the band is the middle part in which many melodies and instruments vie for attention, the drums drone on, and the violin meanders over all. It makes the music sound quite complex, although the separate lines in themselves are either monotonously repeated, or meander without coming back to the same trail.

What On Earth? has strong percussive elements, but they stay subdued. The overall effect is a bit marimba like. For the rest, we get the same type of music that characterizes the band's own songs. Telekinetigram is a spacey opener, but soon we arrive at hectic, wailing pieces of violin. In the back, the electronics dribble almost unnoticed. Too chaotic.

Something I Should Have Said is the closer of this album. It is of the dreamy electronics kind with light percussives. Slowly, the violin and heavier percussives and rhythm guitar come in, but the build-up is gradual. One of the more successfull tracks.

Conclusion

It is difficult to tell what type of music this is. Of course, there is the violin, which often plays in a restless, not too melodious style. In the more melodic moments, I am easily reminded of the likes of Stuart Gordon. However, the rhythm section (mostly programmed) add an often monotonously percussive feel to the music, making it all sound modern, and automated. This elements, I think, is detrimental to the music as a whole, at least to me liking it. Then there are the electronics, which often give a warmer melodious elements, even if they are sequenced. Taken together, most of the songs, especially the non-covers, consist of many lines that are often together, but generally not in a very harmonious way, more competitively. This adds to the restlessness, making those parts where the band relaxes a bit like oases. Gong/Ozrics with Ponty playing violin instead of guitar and a lack of groove in the rhythm section, is maybe the closest reference I can come up with.