See also - Leighton Craig - Logical Descent
Two contrasting transmissions from the Leighton Craig orbit, which taken as a whole are revealing of his off-centre, frequently atmospheric take on experimental composition. The work of Primitive Motion will be familiar to a few reading this i'm sure, though we've not heard much from the project since Descendants of Air from 2019. Pandemic notwithstanding, it makes sense it took a while for Portrait of An Atmosphere to come together, as Craig and his collaborator, Sandra Selig, shifted their approach so as to focus entirely on acoustic sound and remove all traces of reverb and delay. Funnily enough, what they achieve isn't vastly removed from previous outings, the music underscored with a dream-like drift, though this time feels more time-dilated/psychogeographic than pastoral. Drone and folk-based influences align with musique concrete-derived collage, hitting a particularly affecting sweet spot on the mammoth Portrait IV, a just short of 11 minutes piano-led piece transmitted from the purgatorial zone. Don't be fooled by the DIY roots - this is an ambitious suite of work. Logical Descent might be seen as an outlier in the Leighton Craig universe, a rare solo work from an artist who mostly favours collaboration. These recordings span a seven period between 2013-2020, and reflect that protracted approach, exploring various creative tangents and, perhaps in most stark contrast to the PM record, the melodic possibilities of Craig's songwriting and voice. It's a record of two sides, the A a mostly plaintive showcase of the intimate and low key aspects of Craig's approach, the B introducing drums (kit or machine) and so more propulsive and even, at times, pop-orientated ('pop' in that great Australian/NZ sense of the word, that is). If you know only of the Primitive Motion records, i'm not sure you might have seen this coming, but it works equally well, and especially as a window into the impulses and interests of an adventuring writer. I should also add that Logical Descent is a highly limited private press, which does seem particularly fitting of the music that it contains.
