Certain musical genres call for certain types of song titles: Punk bands will often opt for a lexicon of violent souding revolutionary/obscene terms; Some rock bands will adopt an egocentric vocabulary informing us of what they want and very little else; and Classical composers will simply resort to non-descript titles such as "Sonata in C minor".

More pretentiously, some musical artists will choose rather obscure titles for their track titles. "Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth Before it is Recycled" is one such title. As is "Brain Salad Surgery"

What's in a Name:

alone seems to follow the principal. On James Reichelt's solo project CD, "several quiet moments", we find titles such as "when my headlights meet Yours", "green room blue" and "keeping your head from the clouds." Do capital letters mean nothing to this man?

Names (and upper case letters) aside, these several quiet moments are chilled out classics in the making. They are, in fact, so chilled out, that you could be mistaken for believing you were listening to an audio representation of a polar ice cap.

Quiet is the New....Quiet:

Immediate comparisons can be made with Orbital (compare "so far...." with Orbital's "Rez") and, for a more local reference, Project Twinkle in a more reflective attitude (compare "keeping your head from the clouds" with the Project's "Capaldi").

several quiet moments is a collection of atmospheric synthesised tracks and loops. There are no work. The music (if not the choice of track titles) speaks for itself.

The CD opens with the plucking of an acoustic guitar to form a repetitive melody that never bores. James Reichelt's talent lies in using and reusing the same short phrase or tune over and over again - never allowing it to become dull.

Minamilism:

There is a minimalist approach at work here: a gradual changing of rhythm and melody here, and gradual addition of a new sound there - and all the time, a strict adherence to the rules that Reichelt has set himself.

Despite its use of modern technology and a twenty-first century attitude, there is something of the classical about alone. There are strict rules, recurring patterns and overall therems. Admittedly, Mozart would never have dared call one of his symphonies "when my headlights meet yours", but maybe that was his loss.

Bath Time:

several quiet moments does exactly what it says on the tin. Even amidst the bleep-bleepery of "keeping your head from the clouds", there is something of a soothing calmness to alone's music.

It is beautiful. It is simple. It is perfect. If ever I was to compose a ten ten list of "music to take a long hot bath to", alone would feature somewhere very near the top.

Pass me the soap someone...

12/04/04 - First published on www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire under this link