Taylor Deupree, Stephen Mathieu, Jana Winderen

on Saturday 6 June 2009
Taylor Deupree - Weather/ Worn
Stephen Mathieu - The Key to the Kingdom
Jana Winderen - Surface Runoff

I'll admit that drone is not the easiest genre to get into, it takes years of straightforward post rock followed by a departure to more string and piano based instrumental music before it finally clicks, a gentle departure from music being about playing instruments and rather using the everyday sounds and electrical surges to form a hum of pleasing decay.

Its often the case with drone that songs extend past the six, seven minute mark, maybe past fifteen and nearer half an hour, and although I love some of the longer tracks I’m sure that I’m not alone in having been put off by such lengths of time.

The open minded listener who wants to understand why drone is so raved about will no doubt be grateful for these three short releases. Short in length but certainly not in quality.


The impecably named Taylor Deupree, who runs the erm impecable 12k label delivers his first vinyl offering on the label, and the cute story that goes along with it will surely only make you love this release all the more.

These two pieces came about from pottering around on a rainy day with some loop pedals and a collection of instruments including acoustic guitar, kalimba, and bells. Deupree explains: "Pixel, one of my cats, was sleeping next to me as I began to create a warm bed of drones and small noises in an attempt to warm the room and my spirits." As it so happens, the cat in question does actually contribute to these pieces, lending a wheezy snore to the music, immediately bringing to mind the reposeful feel of a Bagpuss episode coming to a close.

Watery and expansive, these are a delight to listen too, interestingly enough the digital release includes an extended version of Worn, cloking in at over 23 minutes and somewhat surprisingly making itself the best track of the bunch given the extra space to breather and expand.


Stephen Mathieu presents the wonderfully entitled The Key To The Kingdom, a two part 10" release, as etheral sounding as it is glaciel, dreamy drones melting away effortlessly and magically.

And finally a most interesting release from Jana Winderen, for those who fell in love with Annea Lockwoods idea of mapping the Danube for her album A Sound Map of the Danube, but just couldn't hack its sparseness, then Jana Winderens Surface Runoff may well satisfy your curiosity, 'Drift' is a collage based on underwater documents from several rivers across different continents, and its as wonderful as it sounds.

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