Peter Broderick
These Walls of Mine
Release Date: Oct 22, 2012
Genre(s): Experimental
Record label: Erased Tapes Records
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Buy These Walls of Mine from Amazon
Album Review: These Walls of Mine by Peter Broderick
Fairly Good, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 7/10
‘Peter Broderick’s hip-hop record’. That was the pet name that a good friend of mine lovingly (and apprehensively) assigned the Efterklang collaborator's latest album after watching this teaser video. Whether releasing music as much as a website than as an album (as with his last effort for Bella Union, http://www.itstartshear.com), or crowd-sourcing material via social networking sites such as Flickr (some of the results of which have made it onto this record), Broderick’s often taken to hounding the novelty in his music-making, and These Walls of Mine has always been billed as a collection of assorted ‘experiments,’ rather than a grand, unified artistic gesture.
Based on rating 5/10
Peter Broderick has played with lots of people – from M. Ward to Library Tapes to Efterklang – and seems to be constantly searching for his own voice in his solo work. Or maybe he’s just constantly reinventing himself. But while he borrowed from composers before him to make the solid Music for Falling from Trees, he seemed to have found his own voice as a composer on the haunting, excellent Music for Confluence.
Opinion: Very Good
An interesting, occasionally profound experimental collection from the Oregon artist. Luke Slater 2012 A few years ago Peter Broderick may have been best known for his work with other musicians. But, with a bag-full of varied and accomplished solo releases now behind him, that can surely no longer be the case. And so his prodigious reputation continues with These Walls of Mine.
Opinion: Very Good
Those familiar with the work of Peter Broderick (Float, for example) might be surprised by his new release, which has more in common with the solo home recordings of Arthur Russell than the fluid blend of contemporary classical and ambient Broderick is most known for. Based upon voice experiments using mics and a laptop, and then uploaded online, Erased Tapes persuaded Broderick to release an album recorded in this manner, the result being These Walls of Mine. This isn't the composer's first foray into singer-songwriter territory, however, having been a touring musician with M.
Opinion: Poor
Labelled as an experimental piece of work, this second release of 2012 by part-time Efterklang collaborator Peter Broderick is, being generous, a haphazard affair. Paraded as a fusion of different styles - rap, beat boxing, spoken word, and gospel all feature - ‘These Walls Of Mine’ is the result of a creative process that started merely as a collection of words, lyrics, thoughts and pictures assembled over the last two years. Channelling these components and giving them a sense of musical embodiment, Broderick’s eclectic snapshots of life are understandably as messy as they are nonsensical.
'These Walls of Mine'
is available now