Roy Montgomery, Scenes from the South Islands (side A)

By 1995, Montgomery had access to a simple looper, to create the types of live guitar layering that Fripp & Eno used tape loops to create in the mid-'70s.  Scenes from the South Islands features relatively short tracks which owe an obvious debt to Evening Star.  Where Fripp's playing was purposely restrained, Montgomery's can sometimes be busy, without ever distracting from the ambience.  The liner notes enumerate the then-current consumer gear which facilitated the making of Scenes from the South Islands.  Technology had suddenly made it possible to create an intimate, personal version of this music on a very low budget, and Scenes from the South Islands is one of the first memorable examples an artist having done so.  The packaging includes the CD insert and tray card inside of the LP cover, and the CD cover itself, which is a beautiful gray photo, is simply pasted on a white jacket.