- The ambient sketches collected on last year's A Period Of Review (Original Recordings: 1975 - 1983), were the work of a man (K. Leimer) sitting alone in his studio, exploring the possibilities of primitive synthesizer and tape loop set-ups. And while Savant is ostensibly Leimer's band, featuring other artists from the early-'80s avant-garde scene in Seattle, it retains that mindset. He treated his collaborators very much like his machines, giving them instructions on what to play and when to improvise in separate sessions, the results of which he'd cut, splice and loop into new recordings.
Originally released in 1983, Savant's only album, The Neo-Realist (compiled here alongside the group's debut 12-inch and unreleased tracks), is in some ways a product of its time. That's most obvious in "Knowledge And Action"'s sampled news footage about South African apartheid, but the sound of tracks like "Shadow In Deceit" resembles the fusion of post-punk and gamelan rhythms that groups like 23 Skidoo experimented with at the time. Brian Eno also looms large, as he does in Leimer's other output, although here it's more about the angular collages he made with David Byrne than the Ambient series—"The Neo-Realist" actually samples a fervid preacher in the style of "The Jezebel Spirit." Leimer also took cues from John Cage and his interests in aleatoric music based on the I Ching, which is to say he sought out intriguing accidents in the musicians' spontaneous performances and the ways he combined their raw material. Ironic, then, that a man who has described himself as "the least spiritual person you'd care to know" produced music with its roots in ancient philosophy.
Artificial Dance doesn't have the meditative air of A Period Of Review or the albums released on Leimer's own Palace Of Lights imprint. This is music of both physical and mental strength: the tribal polyrhythms, trigger-finger basslines, dub echoes and mantric repetition make tracks like "Facility" and "Stationary Dance" sound like primal rituals. Even the more downtempo moments, like "Heart Of Stillness," have a hallucinogenic edge to them, as if Leimer was channelling them in a trance. In truth, his obsession with the process of painstakingly piecing together his own studio recordings makes Leimer more auteur than savant, a man pushing the boundaries of form in pursuit of a singular vision.
Tracklist01. Using Words
02. Indifference
03. The Neo-Realist
04. Shadow In Deceit
05. The Shining Hour
06. Knowledge And Action
07. Heart Of Stillness
08. Stationary Dance
09. Sensible Music
10. Deceit In Passion
11. The Radio
12. Facility
13. Falling At Two Speeds
14. Fault Index