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Jeff Fayman & Robert Fripp: A Temple in the Clouds
According to the liner notes, in 1992 Fripp and Fayman took a pilgrimage to the Greek temple of Anapraxis (along with three tons of recording equipment) with the idea of hopefully capturing some of the mystique of ancient Greece on tape. The sounds captured there - along with some samples from Fripp's Let the Power Fall, - comprise the four tracks on A Temple in the Clouds. Musically speaking, the tracks are mostly exercises in patience and subtlety - the slow chord changes take you from Point A to Point B without really allowing you to remember how you got there. Fripp's guitar acts as the foundation for the CD, while Fayman colors in the spaces with sweeping synthesizers that lend an almost ominous tone to the tracks. The prime example of this eeriness is the 30-minute title track - by the time I was 10 minutes into the track I was definitely completely relaxed, but there was also a residual feeling of something not quite being right.
So if your interest lies in Fripp's guitar chops and "traditional" song structure, you won't be happy here. But, if you're looking for ambient sounds that patch directly into the very essence of what you are, then look no further than A Temple in the Clouds. I guarantee that no matter how stressed and anxious you may feel from the mundane day-to-day existence on planet Earth, spending an hour Fripp and Fayman will put your mind and body at ease - and in these hectic and fast-paced times an experience like A Temple in the Clouds is priceless.
Track Listing
1. The Pillars of Hercules (15:23); 2. The Sky Below (4:32); 3. A Temple in the Clouds (30:59); 4. The Stars Below (3:30)
Personnel
Jeffrey Fayman: Synthesizers; Robert Fripp: Guitars, Soundscapes, Frippertronics
Album information
Title: A Temple in the Clouds | Year Released: 2000 | Record Label: Projekt
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