In essence, think a chamber music version of the kind of lo-fi white noise that lots of people with pedals and keyboards have been making this past five years or so.
In essence, think a chamber music version of the kind of lo-fi white noise that lots of people with pedals and keyboards have been making this past five years or so.
(Glacial Pace) http://www.konkurrent.nl
A pleasant and interesting record, with a nice line in enmeshing mucky, gloopy, beats and effects with a rarefied, slightly precious string sound (the sort of strings that pop up on Olafur Arnalds records). Opening track Slumber Verses has that slightly wan abstract air so beloved of the thoughtful electronica, smart dance that is prevalent nowadays, but there are enough needling and scratchy noises to make the listener think that the record promises much more over its “allotted time-span”.
After a while the niceness slips off for a break and is replaced with a pretty, trippy sound which also seems to want to get elegiac and expansive, without really having the balls or inclination to do that. Tracks like Revival and Violet have got the air of a very, very messy Efterklang record. In essence, think a chamber music version of the kind of lo-fi white noise that lots of people with pedals and keyboards have been making this past five years or so. But after a few tracks of standard modern academia, things settle down to get very enjoyable indeed; City Sleep and Midnight Pass seem to kick over the traces and promise something new with growling guitars rumbling synths and a strong sense of urgency and direction. And the trio of Summer Glass, Cascading and Time Draws On are shimmery things, loose and relaxed and possessing none of the academic air that floats around other sections of this record. It’s at this point that I began to wonder why they bothered trying to sound like another electro classical outfit, and pushed the Cluster / Glide angle more. Just a thought…
Much better as it goes along.