I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Laurie Spiegel for this site. In preparation for the interview, I spent a lot of time over the last few weeks going through Spiegel’s records, esp The expanding universeher 1980 masterpiece that combines synth experimentalism with early examples of what would eventually be called ambient music and algorithmic compositional techniques. It’s a wonder that sounds nostalgic and modern at the same time.
Tracks like “Patchwork” and “A Folk Study” sink into a sort of bouncy arpeggio that begs comparison to The Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” while “Old Wave” and “East River Dawn” conjure up early M83 or Boards of Canada. The palette she draws from is alive and timeless, rarely dated like her later (also excellent) record Invisible worlds he does as he sometimes starts playing FM bells.
There are also slower forays into more typical ambient sounds like “Appalachian Grove II” or “The Unanswered Question”, whose melodies move at such a glacial pace that they seem almost completely random at times. Tracks like these and “Music for Dance II” wouldn’t look out of place on modern ambient Instagram or modular synth YouTube, scenes that obviously owe a lot to Spiegel’s pioneering work.
While the vast majority of tracks are completely devoid of percussion, there are a few exceptions, most notably the fast and polyrhythmic “Drums”. But the standout for me is “Clockworks,” which ventures into the fate of proto-industrial grime and rattles you’d find on a Throbbing Gristle record or even a modern Trent Reznor score. The fact that it doesn’t appear to have been sampled (at least according to WhoSampled) and reworked as the backbone of an underground hip-hop track is shocking to me.
While The expanding universe doesn’t necessarily represent a cohesive vision, it still feels like a unique expression of an artist at the top of his game. The 2012 reissue adds to Spiegel’s legacy by including over 100 minutes of additional material not in the original release.
While the thought of experimental synth music from the 1970s might frighten casual listeners, there’s something alluring about many of the pieces. The expanding universe. Sure, some tracks, like the one-two punch of closer “Kepler’s Harmony of the Worlds” and “Wandering in Our Times,” aren’t afraid to sit for extended periods of time in dissonances and confrontational tones, but for the most part, Spiegel’s compositions are graceful and accessible.