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Rating: You look at those mountains on the cover and wonder what they conceal, whether, once you get past them, there is an abyss, a precipice, perhaps the infinity of Leopardi’s memory. We are not allowed to know; we must rely on imagination.
"Amber", the second work by Autechre, is a record with mystical hints, where the band's ambient techno touches on trance and hypnosis, where soft electronic beats intertwine with suggestive, evocative musical layers.
The abyss of "Foil", the regular progression of "Slip", the majesty of "Piezo", the restlessness of "Further": all this and more can be found in the album, with emotional peaks of rare intensity.
A deep and heartfelt work, more suspended than the masterpiece "Tri Repetae" (where the integration between rhythm and melody will be perfect), but far superior to the duo's latest works, which are cacophonous and pretentious.
In the end, I like to imagine Autechre still behind that mountain, "...that from much of the last horizon the gaze excludes".
And this sea is sweet to get lost in.
Tracklist and Samples
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Other reviews
By ciaopimpa
"For strictly emotional reasons or even for the abyss that a track like 'Foil' continuously reveals to me, this is their album in which I find myself the most."
"Here the landscape... still retains human traces, an attempt to coexist with these two souls perhaps even from the cover image... a land which, in its own way, is alien and fairy, but still earthly."
By Untilted
This unforgettable gem, more than any other album of its time, helped to definitively outline the standards of what is now globally recognized as 'IDM'.
Amber remains the most human, accessible, and indeed analog act of the British ensemble; an ensemble that will later make digital equipment its warhorse.
