Australia’s Tangents are the embodiment of the progressive nature documentary, the kind that uses time lapse all over the place to throw off the viewer’s frame of reference and confuse the very nature of the activity itself. My friend John once described Tangents to me as the sound of a live band — let’s say Tortoise, because Tangents has toured with Tortoise and they’re definitely kindred spirits — attempting to cover Aphex Twin tunes. Imagine Tortoise covering Aphex Twin while soundtracking an experimental nature doc.
I’m imagining it right now myself — it’s so cool, I’m practically freaking out. Somebody make this so I can watch it for real!
“Lake George” is the subject, an endorheic lake in New South Wales, in the southeastern quadrant of Australia. Endorheic lakes have no outflows, meaning the water in the lake doesn’t go anywhere, and fluctuations in Lake George’s capacity depend on episodes of evaporation and a unique wind dynamic that blows the dispersed moisture back in on the lake. Weird, and interesting, right? I mean, look at this thing — it doesn’t even look like a lake if you ask me. I would have called it a prairie or something on first glance and moved my attention on to something else. It doesn’t even get that deep – it’s mostly five to fourteen feet at any given point; twenty-five feet is the deepest measurement.
Think about Tangents in relationship to Lake George, vast at sixteen miles long and a little over six miles wide, and to “Lake George,” the track itself. The band’s textures spread like the landscape in all directions, upon which the action occurs. Their rhythms are effortless, as if they were skittering across the surface of the still water. “Lake George” skips like a stone in limited gravity, traversing the length of the eponymous lake, its rippling strikes on the liquid creating tactile and pleasant patterns emanating beyond their centers and endlessly affecting the rest of the environment. It’s restless, kinetic, vibrant stuff.
And it’s making that crazy mind documentary I’m conjuring better and better with each passing second.
“Lake George” appears on Tangents’ New Bodies, dropping ever so soon (June 15) on Temporary Residence.
More about: Tangents
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