Having waited outside for at least an hour beforehand, as the crowd enters, the organ-like notes which greet them somehow transforms the mundane rock club surroundings into a place with an expansive cathedral ambience. While the usual synth strings gently billow and undulate it’s interesting to hear flute tones utilised to enrich the textural palette. They bring to mind the sounds Fripp would frequently coax from his Mellotron back in King Crimson’s 1970s heyday. Lasting nearly an hour, Montreal II is a deeply meditative space into which the listener is invited to enter. A range of emotional responses that (to these ears) includes a sense of peace, emotional fragility, and a thread of spellbinding vitality, this piece in particular, as well as the concert in general, represents an incredibly fertile period for Fripp’s Soundscaping efforts.
17 October 2024