Roy Montgomery albums
Roy Montgomery is a true psychedelic guitar GENIUS who has been making albums since the 1980's. He has served with different groups in his native New Zeeland and I'm sure his is a body of work that is not only unfairly overlooked by people of this age, but also is full of great music. Above all else, Montgomery believed in true collaboration with other musicians to make great psychedelic music happen. He was also the main songwriter for the rock groups Dadamah and Dissolve, both slight variations on his solo work…though it is somewhat of an invisible line. Hash Jar Tempo was an improvisational group he had with members of the band Bardo Pond and they made two pretty great records full of feedback and guitar wisdom, that honestly i have been trying to absorb for decades.
The key to Montgomery’s music is guitars- sounds ‘between’ the feedback and what makes a song flow from one idea to the next. His guitar is always sort of a mix of Velvet underground groove and absolute reverb and feedback, learning lessons from many that came before him from Grateful Dead to Sonic Youth to Wire to classical music masters such as Wagner and Beethoven. With or without drum and bass, really I don’t know if I would call his wordless guitar symphonies rock music at all, but he definitely has a style all unto his own. This is a variation of psychedelic music that reaches high into the universe for absolution.
Dadamah members
Roy Montgomery (guitar), Janine Stagg (organ, synthesizer), Kim Pieters (vocals), Peter Stapleton (drums)
Dissolve members
Roy Montgomery (guitar), Chris Heaphy (guitar)
Hash Jar Tempo
coming soon!
Dadamah albums
1992
This is not a Dream - 92%
The first Roy Montgomery achievement would be this one and only album by the New Zealand group Dadamah, though he was in a group before this as well known as Pin Group who had several lo-fi recordings. Lo fidelity is key to Dadamah as well, with “Papa Doc” going along with a pulsating bass groove that is very repetitive and Mongomery crooning in his superbly low bass voice. That might be the only straightforward tune, as most songs on this six song album are psychedelic jams that ebb and flow, crescendo and decrescendo, get loud and soft as a moments notice. Opener “Limbo Swing” is a circus ride all unto itself, with singer Kim Pieters bemoaning out of key some nonsense in a glorious way. When Pieters and Montgomery combine their vocals, it sounds like Jefferson Airplane or X in the most sloppy way imaginable (but in a great way).
The best song here is probably “High Tension House”, a nine plus minute simplistic guitar pattern of three chords, building up and up and more and more with Montgomery stating – “This is not a Dream/ Helter Skelter/ electric eyes/ high tension house…” which means well whatever you want it to mean. Montgomery and companies idea of music is the ultimate trip, with nothing taken to literally and nothing to serious; however the music is well thought out beyond mere ‘jamming’ like many bands would do, in a way it’s a different version of Post Rock than what united states groups such as Talk Talk and Slint helped developed in their early 90’s albums. Despite the guitar noise and ramshackle qualities, songs such as the delicate “Prove” are mournful ballads that resemble the best of folk music and “Too Hot to Dry” and most of “Brain’s Children” are classical music compositions with details beyond verse chorus structures. It might not seem like much on first listen, but there are uncharted depths to this album that the serious music adventurer needs tom turn up loud and absorb. An unheralded classic album with not one bad track.
Sidenote: Tracks 7-11 often given on the CD version were considered bonus tracks, and while most of them I would say are inferior devout listeners would be interested in “High Time” yet another psychological journey driven by the guitar and duo of male/female witches conjuring up an evil spell.
Dissolve albums
1995
That That Is…Is Not – 74%
A continuation of Dadamah in most everyway, two repetitive and reverbed guitars with 3 or 4 chords designed to hypnotize the listener. “Strand” is full of punk attitude and detached vocals, a voice higher than Montgomery’s sung by Chris Heaphy in the vein of Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. “Dissong” is all Roy Montgomery’s though, bass voice coming in after a parade of guitar feedback to display a low key melodic phrase all takes on the word ‘dissolve/ destroy/ disdain/ discord’ until we are nodding in agreement. “Encounter” basically is a continuation of Dadamah, finding several chords and jamming over them in a hypnotic way, and it’s another stand out seven minute track (by far the longest song on here.
“8 Wire” and “3 Films” point to a post punk supreme influence, if all the percussion were drained and only guitars remained for the atonal sounds at work. When it works it can be glorious, as the beautiful “Blurred” shows which is the closet Montgomery gets to a conventional rock song yet. But sometimes the results are a bit less stunning and not quite up to the level of Dadamah, as these songs are shorter and come off a bit more like tiny experimental by the lab techs- “The Mortal Pleasure of Wanda Lust”, “See the World”, “Stpp”. A mixed bag, but worth exploring for the Montgomery fan.
Best Songs: Blurred, Dissong, Encounter
1997
Third Album for the Sun - 94%
The second Dissolve album (and in a way the third Roy Montgomery, as it’s his third under a band’s moniker) is back up to his glorious standards. In fact, the whole album is basically a tribute to Red Krayola’s Parable of Arable Land (1967) as Exile in Guyville by Liz Phair was to The Rolling Stones Exile in Mainstreet (1972). The track listing, the ‘live edit’ shorter tracks, the spirit of the psych wonderment, its obvious to anyone who is a fan of both bands. “Rogue Satellite” is a damn solid opener, wordless and all the better for it, seven minutes of space guitar glory; “Into the Black” is like if Leonard Cohen and Michael Gira from Swans had a baby on Jupiter; “Presume Too Far” is more like a dream pop song, female vocals by Kaye Woodward (of fellow New Zealanders, The Bats) taking us into the heavens; “High on Upper Street” takes the same path to the heaven’s as Montgomery sings “waiting for salvation” amid all of the major chord strumming somehow reverbed and colliding in a way that make it sound percussive and amazing.
“Street Philosophers” gives us a need break in the proceedings all down cast and adding some congas and organ to sound more like a real band (though probably my least favorite track); “Dream Index” is an eight minute fantasy, though lo-fi and disjointed like Dadamah was, mesmerizing all the way as it goes on it’s psyched out destructive path; closer “Sunflower Search Engine” sums up all that came before with Montgomery howling all the way…wondering what the meaning of anything is. These songs all express an artist who truly understands the meaning of life and is forever searching for an absolute power to it all, he has the ability so much emotion in his guitar playing and makes music a true universal language.
Live edits make for powerful listens and add up to more than interludes as the whole album is one bizarre trip: “1” makes guitar harmonics relevant again; “2” is an upbeat little catchy ditty; “3” songs almost like a lost 90’s grunge song; “4” is him lost in the jungle; “5” is a clangy harbinger of doom. The sense of wonder and melody has never been stronger than on this record, and in many ways it is Montgomery’s best work. It’s definitely as close to ‘rock’ as he ever got, even more so than his first album w/ Dadamah and sounding like that one but better produced and more confident. “Take the Heat from the air and begin” he sings over and over at the end, somehow it all makes sense.
Best Songs: Dream Index, Sunflower Search Engine, Pressure too Far, Rogue Satellite
1999
True - 55%
This is the final collaboration between Montgomery and Healy, billed to them individually as a split, but it’s basically a continuation of the Dissolve sound so I’m including it under their heading. They don’t seem to be as full of ideas, as half of the album is two songs done twice, the first being opener- “Virtually So #1” and that is probably the only great song on the album, true to Montgomery’s solemn style. The “Virtually So#2” is not as good, and feels like a retread. Other decent songs are present in the sparse “Certainly” and moments of the ten plus minute “Unfathomable #2” but in all a lack of focus is shown on most songs that makes them a bit boring. The seven minute “Clouding Over” is maybe the worst song with Montgomery’s name attached to it. Always the fear with an instrumental guitar form of music, on Ture it came true unfortunately that these songs are not interesting at all and do not hold the listener’s attention.
Best Songs: Virtually So #1, Certainly
Roy Montgomery solo Albums
1996
Temple IV - 81%
For the second album under his own name, Montgomery proceeds to an all instrumental form of music dispensing with vocals entirely. Dedicated title to a temple in Guatemala, perhaps channeling his spirits toward a mythical type journey, best expressed in the nearly 10 minute “Passage of Forms” which for sure sounds like Montgomery has calmed him self and focused in on a new kind of music- slow guitar patterns lined on top of each other with more focus on building a soundscape than ever before. “Jaguar Meets Snake” takes this emphasis as well, but adds a sort of electronic horn sound to bend all the proceedings to his liking- this is probably the most fun track and the most evoking the jungle spirit of the ancient Mayans. “Departing the Body” stars with an almost innocent and mechanical repetition, but builds to add a deafening distortion on top sort of like sunlight shining in on the top of the Temple IV in question. “The Soul Quietens” I wish was even longer, making the most interesting and promising guitar pattern, and it indeed quiets the soul.
With all of these strange influences and calming effects, some people may enjoy the opener “She Waits on Temple IV” but to me it is actually the weakest track, devoid of the memorable hooks Montgomery is able to create when he is at his best. Perhaps I am missing the point, but at twelve minutes I don’t feel very moved by that opening theme. There is much more to explore though as I mentions, even the last two songs sort of fade into each other in the sweetness of “Above the Canopy” and “Jaguar Unseen” not as memorable but not unpleasant either. The album is nearly an hour long, and with over half of the album Montgomery does seem to have found his niche of creating sounds with the guitar that are quite unlike anyone else before or since and point to a bright future.
Best Songs: The Soul Quietens, Departing the Body, The Passage of Forms
1998
And Now the Rain Sounds like Life is Falling Down Through it - 86%
After finishing great albums with his other projects (Dissolve’s Third Album for the Sun (1997) and Hash Jar Tempo’s Well Oiled (1997)), Montgomery returns to an album under his own name and it’s better than the last one Temple IV (1996) which in itself was quite the spiritual experience. He blesses us with his bass voice again in the naïve sounding “In Our Time” one of the friendliest melodies he ever wrote, sounding a bit like Magnetic Fields; “Kafka Was Correct” also repeats a gothic type line about begging on his knees, sounding paranoid and disturbed for sure. “Entertaining Mr. Jones” might be the highlight of the sung songs, as he changes from a deformed prayer into a guitar-only ending that seems to surf along majestically.
Instrumentally, as usual his guitar is the more powerful voice. “Catherine at Aldeburgh” is a blissful work, shimmering with beauty. “Down From that Hill and Up from that Pond” sound sort of like nature coming to life and forming an evil plan. “A Little Soundtrack for Epic” mostly succeeds, blurry and powerful except that it sort of ends suddenly and sounds a bit unfinished. Above all there is the epic length eleven minute “Ill At Home” maybe one of Montgomery’s most interesting tracks, a song evoking a harsh desert landscape and the blaring heat contrasting with the trudging march that barley changes however when it does the most minimal thing (a drink of water?) can make a huge difference. There are not vocals but whispers happen towards the middle, more like a metallic nightmare than he has ever attempted before. Like abstract paintings, one can interpret anything the mind desires to Montgomery’s best music’s.
Not everything works, but the smaller songs that don’t aren’t too off putting just sort of pale in comparison to the rest- “Small Sleeper”, “Algebra 7”. In all with the live vocals and instrumental guitars and absolutely no rhythm instruments usual in rock music (bass or guitar) it makes for a minor masterclass in unusual sounds. Somewhere between the supreme majesty of Dissolve’s best work, Montgomery seems to be going further and further into the abyss to pull out unusual sounds between outer space and nature music. He really is on his own in the world as far as his unique guitar sounds.
Best songs: Down From that Hill and Up from That Pond, Kafka Was Correct, Entertaining Mr Jones, Ill At Home
2000
The Allegory of Hearing - 92%
This is indeed a unique and genius album from New Zealand songwriter Roy Montgomery. What does it sound like? Repeating guitar patterns played with lo-fi production and some synth thrown in for good measure. The song titles paint a picture of each song, some titles could even flow together, but really they could mean whatever you want. It is a minimalist experiment reminiscent of instrumentals on Another Green World, but this could be any world. The "allegory" is open, it can stand for nothing or everything. Each song has a universal quality, though among the shorter ones, "Rock, Sea, Muse, Seek", "From a Promontory", and "Above All" are my favorites. Really it all flows together, making a true album of sorts and a completely original statement in today's fast-paced society.
The track that takes up half of the album, "At the Intersection of Werner and Herzog", represents what would happen if the "idea" of this simplistic, instrumental repetition were expanded in length. It works, presenting a shifting work of art that towers above most other of these kinds of experiments. It is not "mind blowing" in the usual sense (Wenders' Wings of Desire film did pop into my head at one point), but if you close your eyes you are transported into another world: a world where images form and the music tells a story all of its own. It is a riveting listen, and can soothe and irritate at different points in the music, though always staying pleasant. On first listen The Allegory of Hearing all sounds very similar, but the patterns distinguish themselves over time and it is never boring; quite the opposite. To say more albums should experiment like this is beside the point I guess, but I will say this is an overlooked masterwork that will stand the test of time, and it makes me want to purchase Montgomery's whole discography to say the least.
2026
Guitars Infernal - 66%
Several songs recall a Montgomery of old, but overall a lot of this is noise for noise sake. Too bad, because the best songs are still better at what they do than most others- the guitar as a psychedelic tool- "Lucifer's Generation" and "Psychotic Ideation."