I wanted to make sure I gave this album a number of spins before commenting, plus its always a strange balancing act to review a CD on label, when you yourself are on the label as well, but anyway...in simple terms, I freaking love this cd. It is one of the few new ambient albums in the past 3 or 4 years to truly grab my attention and excite me.
When I hear discs like this I start feeling like ambient/space/electronic music is actually vital again.
OK so why?
Well for me this disc combines 3 key elements that I find essential for me as both a musician and a music fan.
1. The music acknowledges tradition
In other words, this CD moves back to and hints at the paradigms set up by early EM pioneers like Eno. It also hints at older minimalist classical works like the old school electronic music practice of not creating electronic music with synthesizers, but instead using electronics and effects to make acoustic instruments sound electronic.
It moves nicely beyond the stereotypical drone and reverb drenched "same old same old" that has been dominating our genre for the better part of the decade.
All of this to say that this CD has a healthy dose of retro coolness to it without being copy catish, and that is what makes it sound fresh and modern.
2. Its real
Again, I love the fact that these are real acoustic instruments for the most part.
This also means that microphones and "air" where involved. This was a recording project, not simply an in the box capture and render project. For me this adds a vibe and space to this album that would not be possible with soft synths, loops and or samples. Not that those types of records cant be done well, it just allows this one to be set apart into a different sonic landscape.
Also, these are real players/musicians and as such this album has a language to it that would have been harder to achieve with programing, again another one of its unique points for me.
3. Tradition be damned
Similar to part 1, but this is just a good cd of (capital M) Music that happens to be ambient and spacious with twinges of processing and treatments, rather than being an ambient or space music album.
Ok, so is it perfect? I am not saying this is the greatest album of all time or anything like that, but man is this a breath of fresh air and nice new avenue for Hypnos and our genre in general.
I know nothing about the musicians on this recording, but Nice Job guys!!!
Paul
