What’s the point of a solo album if it sounds the same as one by the band from which the solo artist has temporarily broken away? But when a member of an experimental post-punk band records an ambient album, the stylistic distance between the band and the solo artist alone is enough to justify its existence. Anton Pearson is, by day, the guitarist with Brighton-based band Squid, and whilst Driving Through Belgium may, on the surface, seem a world away from Squid’s music, it is that certain experimental attitude that forms the link between the two.
Like a programme composer, Pearson attempts to translate the impressions of endless journeys in the tour bus into music. »Driving Past the Muscular Cows in Belgium« on the first side of the LP begins with a frayed drone, before Pearson, over the course of 20 minutes, adds and removes textures and elements like a collage artist. The musical landscape changes slowly but steadily. Over the course of the album, Pearson traverses territories normally occupied by artists such as Brian Eno, Actress, Four Tet, Jim O’Rourke and Stephen O’Malley.
