Formats
GY6-8BX - 4LP BOX
600197676813GY6-8BXCD - 4xCDs
600197676820
Details
It’s been over a decade since Roy Montgomery’s last album, and R M H Q is a hell of a return. This release contains four distinct records of new material. Listening to any of his work is a visceral experience— repeating phrases swell and decay, immersing the listener in the cyclical narrative of his compositions. Montgomery was in his rock band period in the eighties, when the dark, minimalist post-punk of The Pin Group lead into the gloriously open-ended freedoms of Dadamah. After a quiet spell, he returned in the late nineties, producing towering spires of guitar lines that exposed fragility between the strums. With his solo releases and in collaboration with Flying Saucer Attack, Bardo Pond (Hash Jar Tempo), and Chris Heaphy (Dissolve), his focus shifted from the truth-mining of rock music to epic celestialism. His ambitious yet humble tracks outstrip their origins, and Montgomery toured the world sitting crosslegged on the floor, playing twenty-plus-minute compositions. A long period of silence followed, marked only with a split album with Grouper (who lists Montgomery as a primary influence), involvement in Torlesse Super Group, and a couple thematic variations serving as soundtracks for films. Instead, he focused on his personal and professional commitments. Unfortunately, two horrific events preceded his return: the Christchurch earthquakes of 2011 condemned Montgomery’s entire neighborhood save for his home, stripping his street of a community; and, as a volunteer firefighter, he saw first-hand the destruction and loss of life in the city center. Additionally, since 2014, illness in the family has dominated his life. Self-expression once again demanded an outlet. R M H Q is four albums conceived and recorded over a very short period, each of them carrying a distinct focus and mood. • Celebrated return of influential, long-dormant virtuoso • Available as four separate LPs or as limited edition 4xLP box set with liner notes by friends and peers
Tracks
1. Tropic Of Anodyne 2. Dear Future Loser
3. You Always Get What You Deserve
4. I Was A Distant Star
5. Seven Faded Dreams
6. If And Only If 7. Hanging Melody
8. As The Sun Sets 9. Rough Take-off
10. 10538 Overdrive 11. Little Big Star
12. Dazed Pig Dreamhome Slide
13. At The Gogol Au Go Go
(For Natstya Terekhova)
14. Six Guitar Salute To Peter Gutteridge
15. Making Love In A Blast Furnace
16. Slow Heroes 17. Rough Landing
18. Ten Beers With Five Bears At
Two Guns, Arizona
19. I.O.U. Otto 20. Pipeline
21. And Later We Looked
Up At The Stars
22. A Guitar Called Boomslang
23. Another David Lynch Thanks, No Ice
24. Chasing Monica Vitti
25. Cocktails With Can
26. Otherness 27. Riding
28. Last Alarm (For Brad Fletcher)
29. Unshore
30. Weathering Mortality
(featuring voice by Emma Johnston)