TIM CHILMAN - Rewilding

18 Aug

Written by: Rod Whitfield - Independent Writer | Thursday 18th August 2022

I think it’s fantastic when artists write, record, produce and release their own music completely independently. A lot of everyday music punters aren’t fully aware of what goes into that process behind the scenes, but let me tell you, it’s a lot: often years of hard grind, often after hours, outside work times and on weekends and so forth.

But for most, it’s a labour of love.

The Review

Something else that I really enjoy seeing is when an artist takes a sharp turn away from the style they’re known for and ploughs headlong into new musical territory, exploring new and different sounds, colours, textures, feels.

What we have here, is both. Born in New Zealand, Tim Chilman is a Melbourne-based musician, known for his loud, progressive, heavy guitar-based sounds in outfits like gone but not forgotten progressive powerhouse BRANCH ARTERIAL, and the WARNINGS project, released a few years back. Now he’s back with a fabulous new EP, the independently produced and released Rewilding. But if you’re familiar with Chilman’s work, don’t expect the expected.

Don’t expect pounding, complex rhythms, a hell of a lot of shredding lead guitars or soaring vocals. The EP is exclusively instrumental and almost exclusively acoustic-based (with a few super-tasteful electric lead breaks thrown in for good measure, for example the latter stages of Tales From the Yukon, and the excellent Racing Clouds).

The overriding tone of Rewilding is that of relaxing ambience, giving the listener a musical experience akin to a serene walk through an untouched rainforest, or a drifting, happily aimless trip across a calm, glassy lake in an untouched wilderness area. If Chiman’s aim here was to take the listener back to nature via music, he has succeeded admirably.

But don’t let the mellow nature of this release fool you, the levels of musicianship and composition are still exceptionally high, and the production is sweet, lending proceedings the required levels of clarity and atmosphere.

Best track honours, among the five on offer here, goes to Coming of Spring. Starting out in dark and compelling ambience (it actually puts me in mind briefly of QUEENSRYCHE’s I Will Remember), it builds sweetly to a riveting, electric guitar-driven climax, comes replete with understated but elegant strings and pan flute, and rounds the EP off just beautifully.

The Verdict

This is the work of an artist very much at confident and relaxed peace with his craft. If your ears, and psyche, need a break from the musical brutality we all listen to all the time, definitely give this EP a try.