By John Bedard
This is going to be a hard album to put words to as the very style of music is very abstract. I am no stranger the ambient or psychedelic genres of music, progressive psychedelic being my most common preference. This fits right into that wheelhouse, but without the big drops that I am used to in progressive psychedelic. Instead, here you have longer builds that bring you to a much more subtle shift in the music rather than a traditional drop. This perpetual buildup gives an ominous feeling and a kind of unease, in a good way, that is really calculated. With the subtle changes, however, the album never feels like it has gotten repetitive, rather it feels very connected to itself and the changes feel natural but within the realm of the song.
You will want to make sure you get out some nice headphones for this one. It is a very bass heavy album and with lesser headphones or with speakers in a room that has anything that will rattle the experience is tainted. Once you have a good set of cans, however, you will be treated with a guttural bass beat with a subtle mix of changing tones that is truly something special. Music like this, for me, has always had a very cleansing effect on the mind. It creates this kind of hyper focus, shutting out the rest of the world. There are no problems or stresses here. It is just you and the task at hand guided by the carefully crafted noise. This album captures that perfectly. I’m sure my boss liked my added productivity over the past few days. Listening to this it is as if you can’t get distracted.
This album probably is not for everyone. It is extremely niche. Especially if you are impatient. With only four tracks, the shortest of which is 13 minutes long an impatient person might struggle to find their footing listening to something like this. On the other hand, it might help them slow down as well and lean to appreciate subtly. However, if you have any love for ambient or any style of psychedelic you owe it to yourself to give this a listen. The perfect arrangement of what would normally be chaotic noise into a cohesive and guided experience is something that, frankly, is hard to believe even possible on the first listen and remains impressive on all subsequent listens, even if you are a veteran of the style.
- ‘I’ is released on 1 August. You can get your copy HERE.
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