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***"Lilium is the nom-de-disque of Pascal Humbert, a guitarist best known for his work with alt.country outfit Sixteen Horsepower, or his collaboration with PJ Harvey sidemen Rob Ellis and John Parish as Spleen. Culled from solo pieces recorded between 1984 and 2000, Transmission Of All The Good-Byes makes a mockery of the notion of musical fashion: it's quite impossible to tell which tracks date from which era, so congruent are their diverse forms. The titles are in some cases bluntly descriptive: the ambient drones of "Swell" loom and recede accordingly, and the guitar harmonics and bowed-strings of "The Film Box" are accompanied by the whirring of a film projector. "Four Basses," meanwhile, is exactly that, the interweaving parts layered in the methodical manner of Tubular Bells (albeit restricted to a more agreeable minute and a half). Others are less prosaic. "Loveless Road" is a delightful union of guitar arpeggios and wistful contrails of melodica driven along by a lazily martial snare, while the gorgeous "Sleeping Inside" employs yawning bowed bass and mournful clarinet to shade a multi-tracked guitar instrumental with a melody reminiscent of Leonard Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat." Performed entirely by Humbert, save for three drum parts, one clarinet and one vocal, the album makes an evocative addition to the south-western sadcore-soundtrack genre. Particularly recommended to fans of Calexico and Rainer." -- Andy Gill, The Independent |
