Andrew Wasylyk – Hearing the Water Before Seeing the Falls

To know that someone from Tayside can produce such rich, explorative music is reason enough to celebrate the work of Andrew Wasylyk. Nods of recognition are duly coming his way as more people become aware of his talents. But with his latest record, you can’t help but feel he’s onto something truly magnificent.

Hearing the Water Before Seeing the Falls was initially conceived as a musical response to an exhibition by American contemporary landscape photographer, Thomas Joshua Cooper. Many of the artist’s works cover extreme locations surrounding the Atlantic Ocean, several of which are likely to be under water within 35 years as a result of climate change. These works and their ephemeral nature clearly had a strong effect on Wasylyk, who now swaps the greenery of Balgay Hill: Morning in Magnolia for a nautical voyage of longing and self-discovery on his new record.

What’s most striking throughout is Wasylyk’s ability to create lush musical layers and textures in such an understated manner. New nuggets of sound present themselves with every listen, beginning with the 16-minute marvel, Dreamt in the Current of Leafless Winter, which sonically embodies the poetic nature of its title. A bedrock of jingle bells forms a slightly jarring drone before patient introductions of drums, keys and engrossing sax tones from Angus Fairbairn, aka Alabaster DePlume, paint a vivid picture that’s in full colour. Fairbairn’s playing throughout this track in particular is sensational; his staccato stabs contrast with elegant legato sequences beautifully, evoking variety and real emotional depth across what could have easily felt like too long a track.

The album ebbs and flows between dreamlike states and palpable reality. Years Beneath a Yarrow Moon is laden with ominous arpeggios and evocative strings. Jazz elements come to the fore on the more structurally refined The Confluence, based around an inviting ostinato on keys that leaves space for intricate drums to shine and other instrumental layers to showcase their voices. The Life of Time features existential words written and performed by Cooper himself, bringing a nice personal touch to the album, while closing track Truant in Gossamer concludes on a slightly melancholic tone, but the subtle sounds of birds and bright vibraphone tones leave lasting shades of wonder, optimism and possibility.

A deeply profound album that’s dense in multitudes, allow yourself the time and patience to bask in Andrew Wasylyk’s latest compelling body of work.

Listen to: Dreamt in the Current of Leafless Winter, Years Beneath a Yarrow Moon