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Accretion Mass

by Thomas Andrew Doyle

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Planets 04:16
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Axis 02:56
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about

Drawing inspiration from many sources including the boundless spirit that reside within all things, outer space, and the profound beauty of a tiny speck in the abyss that we call our physical home Earth. This is the third full-length release from composer Thomas Andrew Doyle and is available exclusively via Bandcamp. This album is dedicated to all of the emergency first-responders who have put their own safety and welfare aside in order to help others in need. Special thanks to my wife Peggy Doyle who is also an emergency first-responder. Peggy is the one spirit that I trust with my life that has seen me at my best and worst. Thank you for your support. It means the world to me. Peace.

Review: Thomas Andrew Doyle — ‘Accretion Mass’
May 21, 2020 Dave Segal

The Thomas Andrew Doyle who raised hell and decibels with his Sub Pop-backed band TAD in the late ’80s and ’90s has been consigned to documentaries and mythology. Now, the 21st-century musician/producer who formerly brought the ruckus as TAD’s frontman and later for doom-metal champs Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth composes profoundly unsettling music of orchestral grandeur and cinematic drama. His latest album, Accretion Mass, finds Doyle singlehandedly recreating the sound of an orchestra in artful turmoil.

He achieves this sound with a wily combination of piano, synths, and percussion, plus samples pulled from various Kontakt libraries. Doyle says that these samples are “super labor-intensive to use, because he has to shape multiple layers to give the sound its realism and humanity.” He plays all of these instruments (both acoustic and virtual) as well as the aforementioned samples on a MIDI controller, creating the illusion of a large ensemble.

Most of these 11 songs have been in the works for three years and they reflect Doyle’s mastery of subtle mood shifts and extreme dynamics. Stunning opener “Accretion Mass II” bursts into earshot with bravura rhythmic thrusts and ornate string motifs before receding into a canter that evokes the menacing atmospheres, insistent horns, and martial rhythms of Magma. The coda of dejected resignation proves that Doyle values surprise in his compositions. On “Planets,” stentorian orchestral stabs alternate with contemplative piano and woodwind interludes that hark back to pastoral British chamber rock of Henry Cow and National Health. “Into A Stellar Abyss” boasts an incredibly beautiful melody that gets ruptured by rhythmic gut punches, signaling urgent crises. An ideal follow-up to that ordeal, the gorgeously somber “Accretion Mass I” exudes a sense of devastating aftermath and eerie drift.

The sternly churning “Axis” and the mellow melancholy of “Noire Saturnia” strike chords similar to legendary film composers Bernard Herrmann and Angelo Badalamenti, respectively. The album’s strangest piece might be “Ode To Kerberos,” in which angelic female vocals sourced from a choir sample library waft over what sound like discordant tuba crescendos and oddly metered beats. On a similar tip, the jarring bonus track “Atomic Number Green” conveys a sense of loss and stabbing regret with keening, ululating strings and strident piano chords. “Dark Matter Void” out-Goblins Goblin, with its stalking, horror-film organ motif and crispy synth drones inducing deep chills.

Overall, Accretion Mass serves notice that Doyle is poised to ascend to the elite level of film composers. If only Hollywood were listening…

www.northwestmusicscene.net/review-thomas-andrew-doyle-accretion-mass/

credits

released May 1, 2020

All songs written, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Tad Doyle at Witch Ape Studio in Seattle WA.
Original acrylic painting for the cover art by Tad Doyle
Artwork layout by T. Doyle
© ℗ 2020 That Which Cannot Be Burned Music BMI

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Thomas Andrew Doyle Seattle, Washington

Please go to www.taddoyle.com for a complete biography.

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