There is a lot to be said for experience. Years of studying at the University of Life lends a person many desirable qualities: knowledge, experience of the trials and tribulations of life, a world weary contempt for mankind - all great qualities for making music. At the other end of the spectrum there is youthful enthusiasm: a sincere and charming naïvety that also makes for fantastic music. Andrew Weathers sits firmly on the youthful side of this age divide, yet, at the ripe old age of twenty one, he is already garnering some attention. After two albums under the Pacific Before Tiger moniker, this ambient composer has come out of the shadows to release his debut under his birth name. With a couple of albums, an EP, and numerous splits and CD-R releases, Weathers is not lacking experience, despite his age. In fact, he has put together a discography that a musician in his 30s would be proud to call his own. It is perhaps the marriage of this experience and the irrepressible joie de vivre of youth that makes A Great Southern City such an enjoyable listen.
It is no surprise that Weathers is still a student, studying Music Composition at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. It was here that the album was recorded, having been inspired by a summer trip to Italy. A testament to this young composer's youthful impatience, A Great Southern City is a diverse album of ambient compositions. Flitting between drawn-out drone based soundscapes and more focused acoustic compositions, the record retains a contemplative mood. The hypnotic and sensory feast of second-track "Dusty Summer Ghost" and the eight minute "Right Now, and Now, and Now" see Weathers flexing possibly his strongest musical muscle: drones.
I described these moments as sensory feasts because that is what the best drone-based ambient music tends to be. Not only is there the simple aural experience of the music, but this submersion in sound brings all other senses into play. The music has its own temperature, evoking an all-encompassing warmth, and clear colors and shapes are conjured. It is this that Weathers manages to achieve more than once on A Great Southern City, and once these senses are locked into the music, the meditative power is impressive. This is truly a difficult and subtle trick to pull off, and something that is almost unquantifiable. Some artists have it (William Basinski, Loren Dent, Stars of the Lid to name a few), and it would seem Andrew Weathers is in on the secret as well.
Elsewhere, the guitar based melodies of "First Front Porch Brooklyn" and album closer "Sails" show a different side to Weathers' music. The gentle folk approach of these simple compositions bare comparison to fellow youngster Peter Broderick's Home, particularly well illustrated on the vocal harmonies of "Sails." In fact "Song" is an entirely vocal led outing, in which Weathers himself sings seemingly incomprehensible lyrics, instead putting emphasis on the emotional delivery of his voice. Although this is not without its flaws, it works as an intriguing and quietly moving component of the album. Alongside the drones and these guitar melodies there are tracks of a more avant-garde approach. These experiments tend to work least well of all; "Skin Holding Atoms In," for example, misses the target of abstract mystery and feels more like a random coupling of half-finished ideas.
As highlighted in P.J. Stevenson's review of Anchors, the last full length Weathers released under the Pacific Before Tiger name, he is in illustrious company when it comes to young prodigious composers. Those mentioned have gone on to do great things and create albums of undeniable musical worth. Even if A Great Southern City falls just short of true greatness, it seems unthinkable that Andrew Weathers won't eventually reach similar heights. The diversity here is both one of the albums strengths and weakness. The constant switching in approach keeps the flow fresh, although a certain continuity is sometimes lost. This is seemingly an artist with a burgeoning talent that he wants to express, and with even greater experience a truly excellent record will surely come.
-Matt Fernell