Galloping Through a Wormhole (2021)

ZM

Over the past decade, Chicago has become a hotspot for experimental classical music. Many local composers dictate the direction of the genre’s sound. Typically, when artists in this community fuse classical with modern influences, few people intertwine more than one genre into their recordings. On his colossal debut, Galloping Through a Wormhole, multi-instrumentalist Zach Moore combines elements of post-rock, jazz, classical, and noise experimentation into an ingenious performance split into eight linear movements.

(Video: Parlour Tapes official promo video for their co-owners quadruple LP release. Moore’s performance begins around the 12 minute mark.)

Moore’s debut as ZM is one of four simultaneous releases by Parlour Tapes, a small classical cassette label based in Chicago. Each co-owner of the label delivered a project centered on unconventional extremes within the genre. Andrew Tham’s Tutorial Music is a twelve track series of life-hack vocal instructions backed by minimalist synth melodies. TAPE TAPe TApe Tape tape producer Jenna Lyle mixes the harsh sounds of tape hisses with repetitive sound effects and transforms these eerie tones into loosely structured songs. Moore and the fourth label head Deidre Huckabay take a slightly more cohesive approach, but where Huckabay’s Words For The Dead/Words From The Dead balances bright analog synths and thunderous ambient soundsapes, Moore covers several realms of music that are all rooted in archetypal noise concepts. Parlour’s founders have worked together as members the performance art group Mocrep, so while each of the artists are trained musicians, they also frequently embrace obscurities.

ZM started writing Galloping Through a Wormhole when the beginning of the pandemic overlapped with the tragic loss of his great-grandmother. In the midst of this despairing time, Moore began weaving together portions of the record to help him cope with isolation and anxiety. The piece opens with the seven minute, “Art is Hard” (above) a meditative production that revolves around dreamy layers of synthesizers. The first movement recalls the earliest blueprints of ambient music, not far off from a drawn out version of Terry Riley’s A Rainbow in Curved Air (1969). Through the first movement, Moore creates a foundation of calming repetition that remains consistent throughout the entire composition even when he adds larger instrumentation.

Following “Art is Hard,” he delivers “Thinking is Easier than Feeling” (below) which warps the same ambient synth tone from the opener into a faster-paced melody that he surrounds with a tight bassline and lively drum kit. The second movement evokes a comparison to a similarly innovative Chicago double bassist, Joshua Abrams, and his band, Natural Information Society. Both ZM & Natural Information Society create repetitive melodies that peak with infrequent, but significant chord variations.

One of the defining characteristics of Galloping Through a Wormhole is how Moore ties together a wide range of arrangements throughout each movement. “Thinking is Easier than Feeling” would end abruptly if not for an additional drone that appears in the final seconds of the track. These understated closing measures develop into “Prisons are Not a Solution,” a three minute transition between tracks two and four. It’s another mesmerizing moment, and seamlessly used as a bridge to accommodate polarizing yet orderly productions.

Although they incorporate other thought-provoking concepts into their brand, Parlour Tapes is a classical-focused label. Moore’s music is an outlier in comparison to the label’s other releases, as his composition style also highlights different eras of rock. “Targeted Ads are Ruining the Internet” (below) is one of the record’s most animated tracks, with several discernable instruments leading at different sections of the nine minute recording. This track is similar to classical-prog fusion recordings from ‘70s such as Krautrock pioneers Klaus Schulze (Ashra) and Tangerine Dream. Moore deviates from the prog comparison in how he emphasizes repetition across all eight sections of his debut. His technique is more reminiscent of classical minimalists like Philip Glass.

Chicago experimentalist Cooper Craine fronts the psychedelic instrumental band Cave, as well as ambient synth trio Bitchin’ Bajas. Both of these bands are heavily influenced by two different sides of proto-noise music from the ‘70s. ZM is a like a solo rendition of both bands, and ties his academic background as a multi-instrumentalist together through a graceful and intricate composition. When Moore was at a point of hopelessness and despair, his primary coping mechanism was creating this album. His ambitious debut closes with, “Relaxing is Justified” (below), a name that reflects a moment of peace during a strenuous time in his personal life. It’s the longest, most tranquil, most contemplative and most barren track, concluding the album over the course of thirteen minutes. Galloping Through a Wormhole shines brightest through its exploration of genre fusion and complex musicianship, and is also a testament to the therapeutic nature of self-expression.

©Total Trash Ltd, 2021