Review of 'a present from the future' from Textura website:

James Brewster follows his 2004 Mole Harness debut album (All Your Memories Return At Once) with a marvelous octet of guitar meditations on 'a present from the future'. Stripping his sound to acoustic, electric, and bass guitars only and then developing the material with computer-generated processing, Brewster's atmospheric material shimmers with a crystalline grace.

What makes the recording more compelling is that Brewster integrates treated and untreated variations of the same material into his compositions, such that recognizable sounds sit alongside their digitally altered counterparts. Electric guitars voice somber themes during “Interrogation in an Unknown Language,” for instance, while steely washes surge in the background. Pieces like the title track, a lilting waltz that languidly unfurls with a glorious shimmer for nearly eight minutes, are simply beautiful. In other songs, elements seamlessly alternate between organic and treated emphases, with natural acoustic strums dominant one moment and rippling tonal vistas the next. 'a present from the future' is distinguished most of all by a loveliness of its melodic dimension.

Ron Schepper

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