Daniel Thomas Freeman is a member of Croydon’s compellingly experimental Rameses III. Recorded over six years, this solo outing is a concept album with a difference. In three movements, Freeman maps the transition from depression to “his eventual experience of grace”.
Don’t be scared: this isn’t music that can only be experienced under the influence of sertraline or zopiclone, but is a rich murk of tender drones that pitch and yaw, slowing against acoustic instruments and even sampled church bells. Dark House Walk and Staring Into Black Water may have bleak titles but, musically, they’re enticing and hefty. Best of all is the transitional piece The Might Of Angels, which is remeniscent of Sigur Rós – especially with the way the violin or viola underpins the waves of sound to great effect. There’s a similar resonance on Elegy And Rapture, which has the aura of a non-verbal shanty about it.
The closing track, Staring Into The Light, musically moves towards a brighter, happier ending.
