Hypnagogue Reviews “Soundtrack For Motion”
The real beauty of a Dave Preston CD is in the way that polished, calm, ambient guitar inventions wrap effortlessly around a folk-rock sensibility that quite often shines through the shimmer. The borderline between his two styles is so narrow, singer/songwriter Matt Morris, with whom Preston has toured, took the tune “Be-Joy” from Preston’s first CD and re-crafted it into a beautiful ballad called “Just Before the Morning.”
The same is likely to happen with one or more tracks from Preston’s latest, Soundtrack for Motion. Melodic pieces like “The Blood in Your Veins” and the heartbreaking “Feeling That God Has Left You” (with ethereal violin work by Sam Gathman) seem ready-made to have lyrics just slotted into them–but they also succeed quite nicely on their own, lacking for nothing. Preston can also hang a whispery guitar drone in the air, as he does with “Flashing Emergency Lights,” a nice bit of build/sustain/fade and “I’m Sorry,” a textured wash like intense but musical static. There’s also a fairly experimental track, “Spinning Away from the Earth,” featuring fellow Denverite Mingo, whose work I also quite like. This one sometime seems like it’s the outsider in the group, falling just shy of fitting in, but after a few listens I grew to like it more.
A pair of highlight tracks drive home the fact that Preston is, first and foremost, a top-notch guitarist. (He has played with, among others, Charlie Sexton, Tab Benoit, Justin Timberlake and Paula Cole.) “A Giant Leap of Faith” is the “big” track on Soundtrack…, with Preston building the thing in increasing layers, a wordless prayer-wail vocal coursing over it. In structure it reminds me of “Be-Alive,” my favorite track from his first disc. And then there’s “Sweet Sound of Escape,” a high-energy piece where Preston flails away at his axe (or axes) while showing what sounds like a bit of influence from U2′s Edge. This one leaves me breathless.
I said in my review of his first disc, Be, that I was waiting to hear more from Dave Preston. InSoundtrack for Motion he has created a work that was very well worth the wait. It is a Hypnagogue Highly Recommended CD.
Available from CD Baby.
ElectroAmbient Space Review – Soundtrack For Motion
Dave Preston “Sountrack for Motion” —- Review By Phil Derby
(http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/DavePreston1, 2010)
10 songs, 53.01 mins
Dave Preston’s Be struck a chord with me for its originality, a unique melding of ambient and new age, and he continues to cross musical boundaries with ease on Soundtrack for Motion. The mood is often on the melancholy side, with a shoegaze vibe on selections like “Flashing Emergency Lights” and “The Blood in Your Veins”, the latter including vocals toward the end that weave seamlessly into the music. Vocals are more predominant on “A Giant Leap of Faith”, a mournful sort of wail that continues from its atmospheric beginning through to a livelier rhythmic yet still moody latter half. Some tracks have a bit more edge to them, but all retain a dreamy quality, particularly on the ethereal floaters “I Am Sorry” and “Spinning Away From The Earth.” “Your Reflection In The Water” is more like relaxed instrumental rock, with a cool leisurely bass line. Preston’s guitar playing is restrained yet assured throughout, and really shines on “Sweet Sound of Escape,” vaguely reminiscent of a laid back Manuel Göttsching. Soundtrack for Motion is another solid offering by Preston.
Soundtrack For Motion on the Zone Reporter
Soundtrack For Motion charts #46 on the Zone Reporter New Age Chart
Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible…Let’s keep climbing the charts!
Alternative Music Press
ALTERNATIVE MUSIC PRESS – Review by Ben Kettlewell (July 2010)
Dave Preston
Soundtrack For Motion
Release Date: June 1, 2010
Label: Iedima Records
Dave Preston’s ambient debut album, “BE” carried charting success and continues to grow. Now, the highly anticipated sophmore release from Dave Preston, “Soundtrack For Motion” features ambient music giant MINGO with various other cast and characters.
The second ambient release from Denver-based guitarist Dave Preston, “Soundtrack For Motion” is a meditation of motion and movement in all it’s forms, both physical or metaphysical. Preston mines the terrain where
ambient, experimental and minimalism converge.
Dave produces tones that rarely betray their origin on the electric guitar as they are processed, delayed, distorted and looped to create complex harmonies and timbres.
The marvels of modern technology sustain the sound of a picked string, or transform a strummed chord into a softshimmering wave that rises and falls out of nowhere. As he did in his ambient debut “Be“, Preston intricately weaves uncommon intensity and passion into the sonic landscape and manages to accomplish something rare: ambient music that is capable of a wide range of feelings.
From the transcendent “Blind Lovers Hand In Hand“, the near sacred rage of “The Blood In Your Veins“, and the wailing of “A Giant Leap Of Faith” to the “Blade Runner” atmospherics of “Spinning Away From The Earth” (a collaboration with Mingo), “Soundtrack To Motion” shows signifigant growth and maturing of Preston as an ambient artist. I apprecitate the precision of Dave’s playing. The quality and emotiveness of the compositions will definitely give the listener a thirst formore of his work. Dave has produced amasterpiece of guitar atmospherics containing some of the most beautiful, lush, slow-moving textures you will ever encounter, here on Soundtrack For Motion.
Track Listing:
1. Skies (feat. Sam Gathman)
2. Blind Lovers Hand In Hand (feat. Glowing House)
3. The Blood In Your Veins
4. Flashing Emergency Lights
5. A Giant Leap of Faith (feat. Amidei)
6. I Am Sorry
7. Spinning Away From the Earth (feat. Mingo)
8. Your Reflection In the Water
9. Sweet Sound of Escape
10. Feeling God Has Left You (feat. Sam Gathman)
Total Length: 53:01
Sonic Curosity Review on Soundtrack For Motion
DAVE PRESTON: Soundtrack for Motion (CD on Iedima Records)
This CD from 2010 features 53 minutes of delicate guitar ambience.
Joining guitarist Preston on this release are: Sam Gathman, and Glowing House (Steve Varney and Jess Parsons).
Airy guitar is utilized to produce atmospheric music of a deeply introspective nature. Instead of going the processed route and exploring eerie unguitar-like sounds, Preston chooses to play his guitar in a very fragile manner, expressing winsome chords that drift and undulate, conveying an extreme sense of relaxation. Strummed chords waft on subtle breezes, generating a serene congeniality. In a few instances, the notes are nimble-fingered but retain a gentle character.
Ah, but ambient purists needn’t fret; there are instances in which the guitar is manipulated to achieve a textural sound, producing fluid soundscapes of tenuous definition and glistening beauty.
Some percussion is featured, lending suitably understated tempos to a few tracks. On one occasion, the beats are treated into slushy impacts of an engaging certification.
Some keyboards are employed in minor roles, and violin endows the last track with a recital attitude.
A few pieces have soft vocals, one of them basically non-lyrical crooning of a chorale nature.
These compositions capture an endearing tranquility and infuse that calm with a rich emotional disposition. The temperament is a mellow one, seeking to mesmerize the listener and incite contemplation to freely occur.