Music Review // Kelly Bray "pyromania"
This is one long piece by Kelly Bray, forty eight minutes and twenty four seconds in length to be exact. The Bandcamp notes say it is trumpet, electronics and voice (all by Kelly Bray) and while I've seen Kelly Bray play trumpet before, this begins with a sound that I assume is the electronics but sounds like percussion. It has a strong bass banging which then can also shift into this sort of trill. A sort of video game quality is also within here, as it can feel like shots are being fired across space in some sort of realm such as "Asteroids".
A bit of a running engine comes in now, steady flow, as these alien-like tones join in behind it. This creates a space like The X-Files but it also just feels like we're moving. That engine sound stays steady but the sounds behind it can come out like a howling now. The electronics come through like electrocution now, then I think we hear a laugh and might also be slowly begin to hear the trumpet coming in. Different little bits come in, but then the trumpet is just blaring through.
The engine sound has stopped and it just is the sound of the trumpet back and forth now. Whenever you hear that steady sound for a while and then it just disappears it always messes with my ears somehow. Sounds are just moving around, between zapping and being grand, this just feels like a video game but also pinball. Distorted blasts just remind me of playing Atari as a kid and this also can take on a bit of a robotic vibe as well. The way it echoes can feel like it's glitching, but even though it's through these electronic notes I think of it as being like the reverb on an electric guitar.
It feels as if we can hear the triumph of the trumpet now, with some electronic whiirs this has all just slowed down but still very much can feel like we're in space. The frequency can change now, as if someone is turning a knob to increase and decrease the sound, going up the scale and such. This all still feels like we're flowing through space though, just at different levels. This portion of the song, which is in the second quarter, can feel like someone is fighting a battle we don't really know a lot about. A bit of banging returns now with the trumpet coming back in a more apparent way as well.
Halfway through and it feels like a slow build of the video game tones once again, but then the trumpet joins in, staggered. The trumpet goes solo now. This sound is finding its rhythm now and the volume of it fades in and out. At times now this can feel hectic and notes just feel like they're coming out and then dropping off in succession. With a little bit of distortion around the thirty minute marker it can feel like we're back into the old school video games. This also can hit a deep bass note to where it feels like it glitches and then just drops off into the abyss.
This has become full blown electronic chaos now and I love it. There is a drone behind this all which comes to take center stage, as it can feel rather solemn now, almost sad. This felt like all of the pieces started off doing their own thing at a steady pace, but then they all just merged together to go all out in the third quarter. Now, as we hit the fourth quarter it's like watching the sunset. We take a brief pause here as well, as the tones slowly come back with a feeling of ambient drone.
As the sound can take on a sense of victory now, it can also feel like a new dawn. The battle was fought, and as we all know there are no real winners, but the battle was still won despite the fact that there were losses along the way. This portion of the piece here, at the forty minute mark, feels like we are shining a light on that which we lost along the way, during the battle, as we now look forward to an overall better future but one which they sadly will not be able to be a part of. This also take us into an electronic bouncing ball sound.
Steady, note by note and a little trill, this picks up once again, showcasing how it can be reflective like light before once again pushing each note through individually. In the last few minutes here this sound has managed to go back to what it felt like at the beginning, only now it feels like it is back with a new sense of purpose and a new set of knowledge. A bit of that drum roll sound then the notes get twisted. Big blasts, similar to how this all started, makes me wonder if the sound has changed throughout or just I have. Perhaps it is both.
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