Edward Givens - Terra

​Edward Givens

Terra
self-released; 2025

TOP ALBUM

​By ​Dino DiMuro

I’ve been a fan of composer-instrumentalist Edward Givens for quite some time: arguably since his early days as an Oregon Shakespeare minstrel, but most definitely these past couple years and over multiple releases. As it was for many artists, Covid was an unexpected blessing for Givens. Moving away from being a composer-for-hire in theater, dance and video, he instead began recording and releasing his own full-length “concept albums.” A recent example is the excellent Terra. 

Givens has an amazing ability to create music that sounds both like a full-sized scoring stage and a remote mountaintop village. I rarely play his albums through speakers, as his stereo effects can be both subtle and stunningly direct. At different times (or often simultaneously) his music can sound ancient, modern or space-age. Perhaps confirming this, Givens calls this album’s style “Future Primitive.” Givens’ instrumental palette is seemingly infinite: “Micro-tuned zithers and flutes traveling through ever-evolving polyrhythms made of wood and skin…everything from telemetry to voices to tumbling stones… harps from Ghana to whole string sections of erhu/zhonghu from China.” Givens has been inspired by commercial artists like Jon Hassell, Jade Warrior, Tangerine Dream and Dead Can Dance, as well as minimalist composers like Phillip Glass and Terry Riley.

Givens performs all recording and mixing at home using Reaper, which is astonishing since it sounds like a location recording in someone’s dream: at no time do I suspect The Man Behind The Curtain. This all makes sense, as Givens is hoping to impart a magic or mystical experience through his blissful, peaceful melodies “with a slightly edgy, psychedelic undercurrent.” Honestly a lot of what Givens does is over my head, but I’ll stumble blindly forward!


In small waves, “Somber Meditation” immediately establishes the Givens sound: woodwind textures, strings, electronic pads and unique percussive sounds. There’s a high-pitched stringed instrument I can’t place, but it’s similar to the Japanese koto on David Bowie’s “Moss Garden.” All these elements undergo incremental changes, sometimes slurring in pitch, while engaged in a slow (you might say meditative) dialogue with each other. The energy and intensity slowly rise, while always allowing room for the percussive elements (including water droplets) to shine through.

“Rapid Eye Movement - a Dance” features a very distinctive woodwind sound, apparently processed through some kind of harmonizer. It’s the kind of sound only Givens seems to come up with, and suggests a locomotive horn on the Astral Plane. The “dance” section features deep skins playing rhythmic patterns of a time signature I can’t decipher, while still drawing in the listener and causing us to boogie. The main attraction here is the beat, with melodies carried by the woodwinds atop magical pads of unknown origin. Occasionally I hear an acoustic guitar with a cassette-like audio downgrade, which is thrilling in context. “The Void” evokes the tonality of Tuvan throat singers, followed by samples of female vocalists alongside Theremin trills (giving this track a dreamy retro vibe) followed by a spooky Sgt. Pepper orchestral rise. Breaking free of the Earth’s atmosphere (I’ve been imagining a rocket launch all this time!) the music thrills in the sudden freedom from gravity and the beauty of endless space and time.

“Terra Cotta” has a specifically Asian vibe at the start, with tuned bells and occasionally wet-sounding percussion. Givens’ woodwind sounds are back, possibly joined by a trumpet. Whether live or sampled, these organic-electronic sounds are again very much a Givens trademark. The foreground melodic dialogue is entrancing, but I find myself drawn to the drum rhythms that continue along at whim, seemingly in a universe of their own. “Hidden Well” follows the previous tropes but with a dramatic arrangement that would fit well as a Western (or Eastern!) movie soundtrack. “Arbos et Orbis” has an achingly beautiful backing chorus as compelling as the foreground winds. “The Impossible Honey Tree” features a flute-like dialogue which settles into a playful percussive scheme, with some sounds suggesting a cartoon clock. There’s a subtle time signature change halfway through, heralding samples of Asian vocalists that help ground the music, with stunning rushes of vocal choruses marking time throughout.

There’s so many individual parts carefully stitched within any Givens track, that when the album starts playing over from the start, I assume I’m hearing yet another amazing composition! I mean to say that this is the kind of music that’s instantly enjoyable but also rewards careful attention. Though I’d recommend any Givens album, this is a great place to start!

edwardgivens.bandcamp.com

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