Ora 'Amalgam' CD

Amalgam was originally released as a double LP in 2000, as an edition of 400 which sold out quickly. The music was made by Darren Tate, Michael Northam & Colin Potter & assembled at IC Studio, inside a water tower in Lancashire. The tracks have been remastered for CD release and the packaging has been hand-assembled. The insert was made from extra copies of the original 12" sleeve, cut down to fit the jewel case, and as we only had enough to make 100 inserts, this determined the size of this new edition. Only 80 of these will be for sale.

REVIEW FROM VITAL WEEKLY : "As far as I recall I didn't review 'Amalgam' by Ora the first time it was released, as a double LP by Edition…
That was in the year 2000. I am not sure what I thought of the record back then, but I probably enjoyed it, as I was very much into the music of Ora, Mirror, Monos, Jonathan Coleclough and all of their connected projects at that time. Honesty also dictates that I haven't heard the record in quite some time. Maybe because picking out a record to play is always a bit less preferred than picking out a CD, strictly privately of course, and maybe it's also that I loved this kind of music on CD anyway, whereas these boys (no girls) love their vinyl. So I am delighted to see this on CD and that I once again have to hear it. On this particular version of Ora the group consists of Darren Tate and Colin Potter, the core duo as it were, along with Michael Northam, plus John Grzinich and Slavek Kwi each on a track. This time it is a bit easier to read the liner notes (no longer in a circle) and we learn that these pieces are inspired by specific places, and might even contain sounds from such places. I am not sure of that, as I am actually also not sure how Ora do their music at all. I would think, perhaps a romantically notion, there is a bunch of field recordings at work, from these or other places, that there is a bunch of acoustic objects played by some members and that at the controls we find Captain Potter, the conductor with his multitude of sound effects (just as
he is stage central with Nurse With Wound concerts), combining all of this together; a curious mixture of drones, field recordings and hand cranked sounds forming longer pieces of dislocated sounds. They don't necessarily belong together, but if one continues to listen than it starts to make sense, and the beauty unfolds slowly. It rattles, hums and cracks. Towards the end of the release there are more traditional drone pieces, which is perhaps what one remembers these bands best for, but I must say, it is all much more varied than I remembered. It has a great dynamic throughout and I must say the CD sounds excellent;
I have no idea to what extent Potter remastered all of this, but it sounds all crisp and clean. I should play this kind of stuff; even from vinyl." Frans de Waard