Advent was originally privately self-released in 1990 in an LP edition of 300, then reissued on CD by
Table of the Elements, where it quickly went out of print. Since that time, it has become a legendary example of
experimental music-making. It is finally presented again by Canada's
Jagjaguwar label with a new essay by
Richard Youngs. On the three pieces that make up the work, he breaks down traditional composition over three long tracks. His method is to layer detuned guitar, vocals, and oboe
improvisation alternately over a two-chord, five-pulse piano figure in exhaustive repetition. This is
minimalism in the purest sense; it is actually hostile to
Philip Glass and
Steve Reich in that
improvisation is as important to the piece as the piano lines. It is angular, dynamically tense, and quite refreshingly abrasive in the oboe sections. The vocal section is startling in how much it reveals
Youngs' debt to
Robert Wyatt's trademark singing style. But all of this said, for all its chaotic imprecision and anarchy,
Advent is a work of shambolic art -- rough, dirty, and startlingly refreshing in its lack of pretense and manners. It is a very beautiful beast of a record. ~ Thom Jurek
