MOGLASS, THE - TELEGRAPH POLES ARE GETTING SMALLER AND SMALLER AS THE DISTANCE GROWS (CD)

"The Moglass are a self-described "guitar/bass/electronics" trio, which essentially means that they create sprawling ambient soundscapes -- presumably loosely structured improvisations -- peppered with familiar musical elements. The shortest of Telegraph poles...' six tracks runs a modest five minutes; most are significantly longer. Sonically, they land somewhere in the midst of a triangle defined by the Aphex Twin, Roy Montgomery and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop circa 1982. These nameless tracks are built on foundations of looped samples or atmospheric keyboard effects; repetitive guitar figures, piano sequences and simple guitar progressions (or, in track three's case, improvisational noodling) fill in the musical meat. Dropped-in samples and processed sounds are layered on as needed -- everything from track three's intermittently modified frog ribit to track six's bouncy, IDM-friendly compressed vocal bytes. As is typically the case with this sort of material, it's difficult to say much about the individual pieces without resorting to clumsy descriptions of de facto movements and transitions; suffice it to say that none of these pieces linger excessively on one expanse of sonic real estate. There's little sense that The Moglass feel obligated to meet any expectations or deliver specific sonic stimuli -- they've simply devoted themselves to that vaguest of musical holy grails, the Quest for Stuff that Sounds Cool. They've done well, too; each track is, in its way, enthralling, though a few of the grinding, clanking, mechanical background textures are creepy enough to lodge Telegraph poles... in horror film territory." (label info)