LET THE POWER FALL

Though released in 1981 (along with the sole album from the brief League of Gentlemen new wave band project), Let the Power Fall actually dates from Fripp's burst of solo activity in 1979 - a year when he released his first solo album, recorded his second, and instead of doing a full-band tour opted to perform in unusual venues (like music shops and the like) as just him, his guitar and pedals, and a tape setup to perform "Frippertronics". The idea was to act as a "highly mobile unit" - taking the DIY ethos of the era to the next level - and some of the results are found on this album, which compiles some of the Frippertronic improvisations from these shows.

The way Frippetronics works inevitably means that all the tracks are somewhat samey: each starts out with Fripp and a blank tape. He plays some guitar; the sound goes on the tape; the Frippertronic tape system then replays what's been recorded so far and Fripp adds a further level of music. As such, every composition starts out fairly sparse and simple, and then becomes more ornately layered as the track progresses.

This was all pioneered by Fripp and Eno on their collaborations, but here Fripp is doing a deep dive into the art form, doing what he can to tease out fhte possibilities of a format which, whilst interesting, has certain restrictions. Inevitably, as time goes by the repeated phrases become softer and quieter as they become more overlaid by subsequent recordings. In some respects this is a strength; a harsh or discordant note is smoothed out by this process, an error can be "painted" over. In other respects, this constrainst Fripp in how he constructs tracks: he always tends to have some harsh, loud notes early on, because he knows he'll need to use them to construct the early layers of the track, and if he doesn't lay them in firmly at the start they'll get lost in the tape fairly quickly.

Let the Power Fall is honest about what it is - it bills itself as "an album of Frippertronics", and that is what you get. One such album is, to be honest, probably enough. Fripp would go very sparse on the solo albums after this - he's done much more as a collaborator or as a member of various band projects - and maybe part of the reason is that having satisfied himself here with the possibilities of what he can do with just himself and his equipment, he has only infrequently felt a need to do more.

The album is interesting both as a guitar-oriented ambient release - a rarity in the field - and as a snapshot of Fripp developing the sort of guitar tones he'd bring to the table in the 1980s incarnation of King Crimson, which was already coalescing when Fripp decided to release this onto the market. Perhaps, then, this was a farewell letter - however temporary - to Fripp's brief but interesting solo career of 1978-1981.