Here we have the latest journey into the worlds of space rock, psychedelia, prog, ambient, and krautrock courtesy of Paul Williams and his outfit Church of Hed, titled The Fourth Hour. Basically a one-man project for the Quarkspace veteran, Church of Hed has allowed Williams to explore and utilize his vast army of keyboards & synths, including on this release Moog Sub 37, Kawai K5000W, Korg Z1, Waldorf MicroQ, Yamaha MM8, and many more. Also helping out on The Fourth Hour are Stan Lyon (bass) and Sir Winky Stimplebean & Louisa Rhys-Stigmuffin on spoken word vocals on two tracks. Love those names!
The Fourth Hour is comprised of five lengthy pieces, each one featuring plenty of spacey atmosphere that allows the synths to undulate, blip, beep, bubble and boil, taking the listener away to galaxies far, far away, as on the dreamy "Avoiding the Beach" and the somewhat menacing, futuristic "Leave the Salad in the Desert". "Q Ching" is more of an upbeat track, with electronic rhythms that add an ambient, trance feel to the piece, which works nicely alongside the cool synth washes and melodies. There's a neat Pink Floyd-meets-Ozric Tentacles feel to "The Ruler Does Not Travel", while the groove laden title track has some fun bass lines and oddball spoken word vocals, definitely one of the more 'out there' songs on the album.
Overall, another fun outing of space rock from Pau Williams and his Church of Hed. If you've followed any of their previous releases, this one will certainly be of immediate interest and you won't be disappointed.
Track Listing
1.
Q Ching 08:47
2.
The Ruler Does Not Travel 08:48
3.
The Fourth Hour 08:28
4.
Leave The Salad In The Desert 08:41
5.
Avoiding The Beach 07:10
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
