This Pete Townshend produced double CD provides yet another outlet for variations on his endless, but endlessly fascinating “Lifehouse” project. For “Method Music,” composer Lawrence Ball was given access to some of Townshend’s original loops, as well as creating his own via software that was briefly available to all on one of Pete’s websites. After all these years, the idea of the body and its biorhythms as pure music is still compelling.
Disc One, “Imaginary Sitters,” starts off with “Meher Baba Piece,” which builds off of the original data inputs that resulted in the Who’s “Baba O’ Riley” which is then fragmented and looped with other, more shimmering minimal tones. This initial pulse is further explored in “Victoria” and “Sitter 10.” “Sitter 12” and “Sitter 13” are more melodic and metallic, with a sharp ambient foundation; other “Sitter” tracks recall the insistence of mid-80s techno, but without the grooves. “Sitter 16” is propulsive, tangerine dream-like cold intensity.
The second disc “Imaginary Galaxies,” features three twenty minute tracks, each an elegy to a creative body whose natural music is silenced.
“Galaxy 01 (for the late Syd Barrett)” is suitably restrained and melancholy, yet it is also celestial and full on hidden wonder; a haunting and elegiac piece. “Galaxy 02 (for the late Hugh Hopper)” is more cinematic, with the orchestral and electronic combining for a baroque but minimalist ambient tightrope; the vibes and string section in particular make this memorable.
Finally, “Galaxy 03 (for the late Georgy Ligeti)” is a deliberately paced, almost abstract soundscape, yet again with a tone of soaring freedom; in fact all three pieces suggest that the resting place of each of these artists is a place of relief and awe.
Overall, “Method Music” bears little resemblance to the many descriptions of “Lifehouse” that Pete Townshend has offered over the years. Or maybe this just reflects the latest focus. In any event, Lawrence Ball’s deft and soulful loops and soaring melodies create a mood of freedom mixed with melancholy, of limits that are both binding and temporary.
