Dave Sturt - Dreams and Absurdities

by Nicky Crewe

published: 25 / 11 / 2015

Label: Esoteric Recordings
Format: CD

Ambient and thought-provoking solo album from current Gong bass player Dave Sturt

Review

So long ago that it seems like a dream, I remember Gong coming into the hippy shop where I worked, killing time before a gig at Manchester University. And then absurdly, a couple of weeks ago, I opened the door of the mill museum where I work to two men in search of a film location. I couldn’t help them with that, but we had a conversation about art, heritage, music and film. It transpired that one of them was Dave Sturt, now bass player with Gong, and just about to release a solo album. It’s aptly named ‘Dreams and Absurdities’. There are many imitations of mood and ambient music. This is the real thing. Dave Sturt shares his thoughts and motivations in the accompanying notes, but then invites the listener to find their own connections and state of mind, inspired by the tracks. There’s a heady mix of electronic and acoustic sounds, classical instrumentation and Eastern influences, held together with sonorous bass lines. These tracks have been developed over several years. It’s a solo album in intent, with fantastic guest musicians. The connections and co-composers include Steve Hillage on the uplifting ‘Jaffa Market’, Bill Nelson on ‘White and Greens in Blue’ and the late Daevid Allen on ‘Unique and Irreplaceable’, making use of a past unused session for Cipher’s ‘One Who Whispers’. The human voice appears in the prose poem for ‘Bouncing Like Gagarin’ and in the found sound of an Asian fish seller’s cry in the title track ‘Dreams and Absurdities’. Beyond the music, the influences range from Barbara Hepworth’s sculptures to NASA’s sonofication of Jupiter, gravity and hushed cathedrals and field recordings in New York and Israel. It’s spiritual music because it feeds the spirit, both timeless and contemporary. It’s evocative and innovative at the same time. Dave Sturt’s sleeve notes tell you where he’s coming from, but this is an album that will take you to your own personal dreamlike place.

Track Listing:-

1 Mirage
2 Transcendence
3 Hollow Form
4 Bouncing Like Gagarin
5 Jaffa Market
6 (In My Head) I'm Swimming
7 Unique & Irreplaceable
8 Dreams & Absurdities
9 White & Greens in Blue
10 Vast Indifference