The primarily avant-garde Clinical Archives net label isn’t exactly known for releasing pop music but that is exactly what they have done with March Rosetta’s Late in Time. The album of ten melodic songs is admittedly intelligence pop music but the easy beats and complex, often surrealist lyrics are hard to resist. Many of the tunes, including the upbeat “Landscape” has a Brian Eno pop sensibility surrounding it while the pensive “When You Were Down” reminds me of early Peter Gabriel. March Rosetta, which is the electronic music project of musician Thomas Carter, weaves a pleasant and hypnotic spells throughout this album which is one of the best free online releases of the year.

The earlier To Wash Against The Hudson River Running is much closer to Clinical Archives’ avant-garde leanings. You can’t get more different then these two albums. This recording is quite experimental. It is less a musical composition and more of an exploration in sounds, or as the artist states it, an exploration in “extremes of sound and silence, and the darkness of mankind’s dual nature”. There is a haunting often dark presence in these five soundscapes. While Late in Time is grounded in tonality, To Wash goes the totally opposite direction daring us to find our own way in his aural labyrinth. Again I am reminded of Eno, but this time at his most adventurous. This is challenging but interesting music. Both sides of March Rosetta is worth the listen.

Both albums are available in 320kbps MP3.

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To Wash Against The Hudson River Running
Late in Time