Chicagoans Stephan Moore and Scott Smallwood shifted a little on us
here. They cut out from their home base for the more exotic locale of
Manizales, Colombia, in May 2016, and it is here (and on the way here) that
they recorded what would be the foundation of “Go Where Light Is.” They messed
around with it though – they didn’t just present raw, unfiltered source
material. That would be crazy!
Instead, the duo crafted a heavy vibe, sounds menace over you like
thunderclouds. Rain in the distance. Humidity. Atmospheric disturbance.
Electricity in the air. Although “elements from this album first appeared in
[a] sound installation” in 2016, “Go Where Light Is” is far from what you’d
expect in the controlled space of a studio or a museum. It begs to fill open
space, to expand and infiltrate any emptiness that it encounters.
It begs to go where light is.
Well, that’s easy enough to say, but the tracks are all coated in
darkness, and they reach for the light in various ways. While the end result
may be obscured by encroaching shadow, the light still filters in at the end,
glimmering and inevitable. Like the streetlamps superimposed over the eyes of
the j-card’s front cover, “Go Where Light Is” will, perhaps ominously,
eventually lead you out of the gloom.
--Ryan
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