Reviews
The Nature of Light Review
Written by Stuart Dalziel.
It is no secret that the British music industry is dominated by over production, mass distribution and image marketing. To make it big means religiously imitating the current trends. Creative freedom and originality have become bywords for career suicide.
It is refreshing then to find there are still artists out there willing to stick two fingers up to the rulebook.
The Nature of Light was entirely conceived, created, produced and distributed by one man. Even the cover art is designed and painted by 37 year old Lea Atherton. A musical hermit obsessively stubborn about controlling every aspect of his music? Probably. And that's exactly the kind of musician people should be listening to.
From the rich synthetic swell of opener Leaving Planet Earth, you know this is something out of the ordinary. Those looking for gimmicks best shop elsewhere. The Moogs sound like Moogs, the drum machines sound like drum machines. And all the better for it. The dying art of good old-fashioned composition craft is the name of the game here, and Atherton is clearly a master of it.
This is a music lover's music with mathematical complexity that will test the ear and the mind to its limits, whilst at the same time remaining a work of astounding emotion and beauty, appealing to the coffee table listener and the record shop elitist in equal measure. If the hairs on your neck don't stand on end the first time you listen to Airlock you may want to check you still have a pulse.
Not content with disobeying most of the rules in the book already, Atherton makes his bold faced debut here with that notorious behemoth that has been the death of countless more established acts: the themed album.
Does he pull it off? Only time will tell. But the theme of space and expansion that intertwines the diverse compositions that make up The Nature of Light is clear. Quite a feat considering this is an album without any vocals. The imagery washes over the listener with visual intensity. In more than one sense, this album is all about space.
Fitting then, that from the tiniest micro detail to the most epic macro soundscapes, every sound Atherton makes is crafted with obsessive-compulsive attention to detail. The level of meticulousness is frankly astonishing.
Comparisons will inevitably be drawn to Brian Eno, but such an easy observation would overlook a far more diverse range of influences subtly at work here: the prog-rock lead elements, the old school rave touches of Sacred Geometry, or the epic space dub of title track The Nature of Light which almost touches Osrich Tentacles territory.
Atherton has pulled off the seemingly impossible feat of creating a work of advanced musical technicality that remains thoroughly accessible to even the most casual listener.
More importantly he has done so out of one thing and one thing only; an uncompromising love of his art and devotion to his vision. That passion, so lacking in so much of what we hear, is what makes this album so powerful.
