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from Ear Pollution e-zine (posted 7.1.2002)
written by Mark Teppo
http://www.earpollution.com/
Jonathan Hughes - Trillium (The Foundry - 2002)
For his first solo release, Jonathan Hughes elected to explore the rhythm of the three-legged dog, opting to rotate everything about the distinct pattern of the 3/4 time signature. Called Trillium, this sonic ideology puts a drift in the ambient course of this album as everything moves at a pace that is certainly not martial nor emphatic. Atmospheres drift, tones float by like sheets of spun color set adrift on soft winds, and rhythms waltz and soft-shoe their way across polished floors.
While not "ambient" in the "hear and forget" or the "made for furniture" sense, Trillium definitely falls into the category of records which sustain and transform the auditory environments through their intrusion. "Imatra" opens the record like a burst of sunlight across a dew-dappled field, ringing with tones that brush away the sad darkness of night. "A Nightmare Dreamed of Thunder" has fewer edges than one would expect, the hiss of rain falling beneath the broad ionosphere-reaching tones, the distant echo of lost thunder adding texture to the proceedings. "Heavy Water" builds off what could be a field recording from the bottom of a glacial crevasse, the recorded signal filled with the cracking and groaning of the infinitesimal and ponderous movement of ice sheets, before the shuffling beats enters and the whole things strolls off into soundtrack territory. A track which would not be out of place on any IMAX movie with the words "cold," "white," and "desolate landscape" in its title. "Ganymede" crackles with static of solar flares, space dust and heavy atoms popping against the microwave receiver. Echoing metallic tones provide the counterpoint to the elongated guitar-tinged melody which expresses the plaintive exile of this distant Juperitean moon.
Hypnos and Foundry continue their excellent collaborative release efforts with the addition of Jonathan Hughes' new record, Trillium. It does what a good ambient record should: colors the room without your interaction or attention. How deep you fall into it is your own choice, and Trillium certainly had a rich depth to offer those who wish to lose themselves.