We Travel Time by James Johnston & Steve Gullick
This month Le Document starts a new Podcast series which will be available on most music streaming platforms including Spotify and Apple Music. Harry and I were able to discuss the new release from Steve Gullick and James Johnston called We Travel Time.
We Travel Time
JAMES JOHNSTON & STEVE GULLICK
Label: God Unknown
★★★★☆
We Travel Time is the title of the new recording from James Johnston and Steve Gullick. James made his name with the band Gallon Drunk and Steve made his taking photos of people like Kurt Cobain, Bonnie Prince Billy and Mark E Smith. They have collaborated before – they both appear on the album Bender which was released way back in 2004.
It opens with a slightly melancholy nautical quality. Seagulls cry and waves gently lap against a coastal edge. The closing track weaves reversed vocals against a field-recording of heavy rain. The whole record is very cinematic but there is also something very intimate about the recordings too.
Piano, ephemeral violin, tremolo infused guitar, harmonium and layers of vocal choruses creates a very sensual soundscape. The quality of the recording is very analogue so you can easily get sucked into that experience alone. The tempo never breaks beyond a steady thinking pace with buckets of reverb, echo and space throughout.
It’s almost an instrumental record, roughly 50-50 if you include some of the tracks that just have vocal oohhs and aahhs rather than words and narrative. We Travel Time reminds me a lot of Vincent Gallo’s LP Recordings of Music for Film (2002). There is a similar ‘analogue hiss’ quality that totally compliments the instrumentation and singing. I thought there might have been some heavier raw noise textures / drones, but it’s mostly controlled and sits within the range of acoustic or semi-acoustic instrumentation. It could almost be a meditation soundtrack but it has just the right amount of edge to keep it out of trouble.
