ABANDONED CITIES

Of the Harold Budd releases and collaborations I've heard, I think Abandoned Cities constitutes the most unusual and uncharacteristic. Consisting of two side-long dark ambient soundscapes, Budd's minimalistic piano playing is more or less entirely absent from the album, leaving in its place a haunting electronic evocation of total desolation. At points, its slow, ponderous rumbles border on full-on drone territory. It compares favourably to similarly glacial predecessors such as Tangerine Dream's Zeit, and may be an eye-opening experience for any listener who only knows Harold Budd as that guy who collaborated with Brian Eno and the Cocteau Twins and plays a real purty piano.