Surely others will already take care of reviewing this album, but now I want to be the first and give you a brief preview of what you will find!
I will be very brief; the album in general does not present any major breakthroughs, but in my opinion, it is more successful than "Untilted".
There are 20 tracks, just one disc, so as can be easily inferred, the pieces are shorter, minimizing the risk of encountering boredom.
Many edges have been smoothed, the sound is less sharp, less cutting, it is more fluid, sometimes even ethereal, reminiscent of stuff from the '90s. It is very heterogeneous, perhaps one of the most heterogeneous albums ever produced by Ae.
There's a seamless transition from the more conceptual tracks (though not as much as before) to those closer to a "listening" dimension that hasn't been felt for quite some time.
It's pointless to listen to the tracks individually one by one, this is an album made of pieces that live and make sense if listened to all together, because they are fused together by subtle sound segments that make them appear as a whole in continuous evolution. Individually they say very little, albeit with the necessary exceptions.
"Altibzz", "Simmm", "Paralel suns" are the most promising. The first is airy, without rhythm and very catchy. The second is reminiscent of "LP5"; Japanese music boxes follow one another, first alone, then accompanied by rhythms, then the music boxes return again, living a second phase, with different timbres. The third is a lunar ambient traversed by dark lines and crossed by splashes of kinetic energy.
Finally, the last two tracks resemble nothing done so far, they are entitled "Notwo", "Outh9X." They are minimalist and pervaded by dark and very quiet atmospheres, almost delineating the boundaries of a possible "dark electronic", with dreamlike and unsettling themes.
They close the album with an unexpectedly dramatic vein, excessively quiet to the point that one would think they are really theirs. These are the two tracks that more than any others invoke a possible renewal.
In other places, this album has been brutally criticized; instead, I say that these two should still be kept under observation.
Tracklist and Samples
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By Untilted
This disc is a completely new creature, as new is (almost) everything that the great innovators Autechre have released in over two decades of remarkable experimentation.
It is an enormous album, but certainly among the weakest of Autechre. This should explain what kind of minds conceived it. Superior minds. Minds above average.