The title of this series of CDRs from Ben Reynolds on First Person is pretty telling, but it requires a little explanation. It is Other World Sermons, not "Other World Sermons." In other words, space is the place that inspires these sermons. Reynolds lays down his acoustic guitar for some keyboards, creating something quite different from his guitar work but still quite engaging and well realized.
Both 3" CDRs contain two "Sermons". On "Sermon 1," Reynolds pounds out semi-random sequences on a wooden xylophone against a wall of feedback hum. The "sermon" reminds me a lot of the opening sequence to 2001 - apes with bones in hand, pounding away primitively before coming face to face with the monolyth. It's a nice, primitive drone, but thankfully "Sermon 2" has a bit more structure. Here, insect noises from the keyboard take up much of the spectrum, but the heart of the song, lurking underneath, is a soft bass drone and percussion, Reynolds using drums of different pitch to create a slow, steady pattern. As the song develops, more and more spacey keyboard effects enter the top of the spectrum, filling the space, building up to a vocal passage. The bass has dropped out, so all we're left with is chirping keyboards and very spiritual sounding vocals from Reynolds.
"Sermon 3" starts the 2nd CDR with a thick bass sound, sounding like it comes from a demented church organ. Watery, spacey keyboard squiggles bounce around the space above the organ, creating a very lively, darkly-hued environment. "Sermon 4" is the most organic of the four pieces. It builds quickly from a soft hum, incorporating harmonica and chimes into the swelling electronic sunstorm. As the storm dies down, a jumble of clanging percussion and blurts of flute and bassoon-sounding reeds fills the space. As the electronic backdrop builds in size and volume again, the flute continues, tweeting out freely to the song's conclusion.
Perhaps spacey keyboard effects get tiresome faster than the good old guitar. However, the structure and execution of the longer songs is impeccable, "Sermon 2" pulling you along with the drone, filling the space more and more, then dropping out to some righteous vocals, and "Sermon 4" lifting you up out of your seat and into the solar winds.
