Thursday, December 31, 2015

The Big Takeover reviews "Isabel II: Abaddon Rising" by 17 Pygmies


17 Pygmies
ISABEL II (ABADDON RISING)
(TRAKWERX)

2015

PHILIP DRUCKER AKA JACKSON DEL REY is nobody's idea of an unambitious slacker. The ex-SAVAGE REPUBLIC guitarist has made artistic 17 Pygmies records since 1983's Hatikva EP, yet he's been most fruitful since 2007's dynamite solo score for SERGEI EISENSTEIN'S 1925 Battleship Potemkin and, starting in 2008, a nine-CD/three-book 17 Pygmies project. This fifth CD of that boundless booty is another beaut, at times their comeliest, coming after Celestina I, II, and III and Isabel I. Drucker's graphic novel, short story, and film script record the trials of futuristic fugitive Isabel and fellow heroine Celestina; augmented by the sensuous singer MEG MARYATT, the group's ongoing soundtrack fits the chronicle: Isabel II is a potpourri of sonorous classical strings (a force), Eno-esque keyboards ("Isabel XV"), acoustic folk guitars, piquant piano, twinkle bells, and methodical drums or electronic dance beats. Wish all artists gave so much.

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