ANTON PEARSON
Driving Through Belgium (World of Echo)
On his solo debut, branching out from his position in London postpunk group Squid, Anton Pearson exercises his skill fashioning sound rather than melody alone. Comprising six pieces of greatly varying length, Driving Through Belgium doesn’t provide background music, but forces you to listen apprehensively and attentively.
Opener Driving Past The Muscular Cows In Belgium is a 20-minute marvel, rising and falling with growling drones that feel both distant and overwhelmingly close. There are unexpected moments of respite, as on the two-part Tintinnabulation, but only moments before tracks like Teeth To Cut The Grass reintroduce discomfort.
Driving Through Belgium is an album that feels slightly more than mechanical. Not typical of the ambient album, but perhaps closest to something like Brian Eno’s Apollo, Pearson brings an unsettling, concentrated atmosphere to his work, resulting in an album that seems to live and breathe in its fragility and hostility.
words MENNA WILSON
