Steve Moore ‘The Threshold Of Liberty’

Side !
01 The Threshold Of Liberty (9:45)
02 No (8:36)
03 Hermetic Discourse (6:53)
Side ?
04 Nostalgia Of The Infinite (Homage to De Chirico) (7:50)
05 Dream Logic (4:58)
06 The Return Of The Poet (14:56)

Total time: 52:30
Recorded 1982-4. Cassette released by Inner Ear Recordings, 1990

In composing ‘The Threshold of Liberty’ I had no precedents in any electronic or acoustic music I had heard, and I felt free to devise my own logic for it, based on that of surrealist art, and let my imagination do the rest. If it works, it is because I have followed such an ‘inner voice’.
Steve Moore, The ReR Quarterly, vol.1, no.1, 1985

Indeed, Scotish surrealist composer Steve Moore has a logic of his own when it comes to juxtaposing dream-like, vaguely familiar sounds – though we’d rather call it un-logic in his case. No heaven-like, fluffy dreams here, but arresting, para-normal sonic events where ESP and surrealist exquisite corpse technique play a major role. That each side is symbolized by ! and ? only stresses the bewilderment and stupor capacities of the music. In this respect the concluding track ‘The Return of the Poet’ is an absolute, unforgettable masterpiece with unsettling suggestive power on the listener. ‘The Threshold…’ is a collection of electronic and tape music tracks realised at Durham University Electronic Music Studio, 1982-4. The cassette is structured with 2 surrealist paintings. The ! side is based on Magritte’s ‘The Threshold of Liberty’, pictured on top of this post. The ? side with De Chirico’s ‘Nostalgia Of The Infinite’ [+]. The music lies somewhere between those 2 stalwart masterpieces of metaphysical surrealism. See my previous post on Steve Moore. Thanks to Tristan Koreya for this gem.

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