THE LAST SONGS OF A DYING TRIBE

If 2018 is anything like the previous twelve months, it means a steady stream of solo works and collaborations ahead for sound experimentalist Jack Hertz, and `The Last Songs of a Dying Tribe' sees the man going it alone for an diverse series of pieces reflecting on ancient indigenous tribes and rapidly vanishing ancient cultures. Sure, Hertz could deliver a series of predictable tribal-flecked ambient tracks, but instead he offers fluctuating experimental electronic fragments, hypnotic prog-electronic journeys and intangible freeform sound collages that make up a very immersive and enticing near-seventy minute exploration.

Looking at some of the highlights, opener `Fragrant Perfume of Pleasant Memories' is a subtle collage of treated percussion, hazy acoustic guitars, drowsy electronic washes and slinking bass, with traces of unease creeping around the edges of an otherwise heady chill-out. Restless and glitching electronics seep over raga-like dustiness throughout `Nyami Nyami Swells the Zambezi', `As if There is No Afterlife' is frequently a sauntering psychedelic bass rumination, and the ten-plus minute `On Being Ancient, a Faculty for Surviving Disorder' is a dreamlike ambient drift of ebbing synth drones.

`Arabesque Forms in Pale Blue and Browns' almost lurches with restrained trip-hop grooves, and `Lost to the Ignorance of Progress' embraces those unhurried and carefully unfurling electronic atmospheres of the early Klaus Schulze albums like `Picture Music' and twists it with a languid jazzy waft. The fifteen minute `History, a Computer Stored in Tomorrow' starts as a surreal Steve Roach-like ambient drone of ringing crystalline slivers that turns enveloping and oddly embracing as fizzing synth caresses and lightly pattering percussive tribal beats circle the piece, but ultimately it distorts into schizophrenic twitching oblivion in the climax. Bleeding electronic pools permeate the hallucinogenic `Charred n' Pulsed', and the closing title track `The Last Song of a Dying Tribe' is skittering and frantic.

Listeners unfamiliar with Jack's work should probably investigate something like his more obviously melodic space music/Berlin School-modelled double `Planet Red' from 2016 first, or his gentler collaborations with the recently late Wolfgang Gsell from last year such as `Sleeping Trees on Earth' and `Blue'. But `The Last Songs of a Dying Tribe' is a challenging, varied (maybe even a little maddening!) and eclectic set that is frequently, seductively disorientating and endlessly fascinating.

Four stars.