The fifth album from this Bristol-based composer features his trademark blend of acoustic and electronic elements, encompassing minimalism, ambience and electro-acoustic styles.
Orchestrating guitar, strings, piano, synth and various samples, Teague constructs compact instrumentals that are more like impressions and glimpses than epic extrapolations. Each constructed economically around a single theme with melodies that are delicate and even pretty, the mood gently wanders from wistful to whimsical and back with scarcely a few seconds of shadow. For the most part highly rhythmic, the chiming arpeggios and pulsing sequences often feel like snapshots from film soundtracks. It’s hardly surprising, then, that Teague is in demand by television and advertising producers. But there’s nothing bland about Block Boundaries. Rather, its elegant simplicity leaves room for you to interpret it in your own way. Fans of Mike Oldfield, Philip Glass and Steve Reich will find much to appreciate here, while lovers of Peter Baumann, mid‑80s Tangerine Dream and Jean Michel Jarre’s livelier work should investigate.
