MORPHEUS MUSIC REVIEWS

Dead Letters is a smart digipack presentation: two pale panels adorned with almost abstract photographs of fragmenting snow and frost. On the front cover a single leaf of muted orange lies on the mottled grey/white ground. Track titles appear on the rear in white font against a less distinct winter abstraction. Within all information is found on the leftmost section: band credits; recording and design credits; relevant thanks and website details.

Dead Letters is the debut release from Paris-based four piece band Sealight.
Sandra Rossini – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Concertina
Dave Olliffe – Guitars, Drums, Synthesizer, Drones
Candice Coppéré – Trumpet, Concertina
Stéphane Pigneul – Bass, Synthesizer
The EP is delivered by French label Commission 45. The five tracks here are sure to draw comparisons with shoegaze pioneers the Cocteau Twins - but then if Sealight didn't enjoy such a connection they would not have selected Robin Guthrie as mixer/producer. Dead Letters though is no sound-alike wannabe: the band's folk interests steer much of the music in their own peculiar direction. Sealight also has a consistently melancholy and introspective tone that runs like a pale thread through the whole set. Promotional material explains that "the lyrical content of the EP draws upon a collection of letters and texts surrounding the lives of the group’s families in France and Australia." You can explore more of Sealight at the band's website and the Commission 45 site.

MORPHEUS MUSIC REVIEWS

December 2011
Subtle ambient electronics and vibrant field recordings.
Delicate bird song rises naturally out of silence, avian calls and cries surrounding the listener as if present in a deep woodland. Synthetic embellishments dance among the chirps and twitters almost unnoticed at times; then in tandem - twinkling synthetics in sync with nature; then dense drone textures, the organic material apparently suspended in strange, crawling artificial atmosphere. This shifting balance continues throughout the composition: the susurrating sounds of insects; the rough bleats of sheep; clanking cow bells; distant church bells and an abundance of bird calls - all set against constantly evolving ambient electronica - deftly interwoven into a single long form whole. In places the instrumentation gives way completely to the environmental material, then about halfway a major shift occurs: stronger, more dissonant tones that contrast the serenity of nature; abstract synth forms establish a more disquieting mood as if the woods are seen through a distorting lens - warping and colouring everything in view.

Bruno Sanfilippo and Max Corbacho come together again in collaboration over Bioma, their last joint release was back in 2003 when they released Indalo. The album is delivered via the duo's own AD21 label. Promotional material explains "field recordings made in different places in the province of Tarragona, Spain, during spring 2010" a year later the two "composers crafted the electronic soundscapes and effects separately from each other to enrich this natural kaleidoscope of sounds." Biome is a single long form track that lasts fifty nine minutes and naturally loops back on itself if allowed to. The album is a limited edition release of only 200 copies and can, of course, be explored visually and aurally via the AD21 website.

MORPHEUS MUSIC REVIEWS

December 2011
Lush downtempo and uplifting dance music.
Koan take as inspiration the ancient tale of mythological Circe - 'the loveliest of all the immortals' - and craft a powerfully emotive piece of lush melodic chillout. With strong hooks, heart-rending crescendos and delicate interludes, Koan weave a wordless female vocal thread among the constantly shifting electronica, choral synths and dreamy beats to great effect. The Asura remix retains much of the languid yet euphoric nature of the original, deep sub basses and clean synths. The Krusseldorf Muesli remix is more of a departure: shadowy and grumbling with contrasting spectral washes and glitchy percussion - beatless, approaching ambient in the midsection. Volume 2 is where the tempo picks up: a progressive Soundprank version strips back much of the original material to open up a more sinewy, stabbing dancefloor version. Nick Brennan continues the trance/dance treatment with a solid, thumping foundation and colourful electronica. Petit Ange morphs Circe's Touch into a somewhat icy, minimal techno mix with drifting stratospheric soft-centre. Roeth and Grey (a Koan side project) close the set with the final uptempo presentation: vivid colour, vibrant tone and a sense of fluctuating emotion to match the original.

Russian downtempo act Koan presents Circe's Touch as a forerunner to their full-length album Argonautica ( to be released via Section Records). A pair of gloriously blissful EPs deliver a total of seven versions of the Koan original track with remixes from: Asura, Krusseldorf, Soundprank, Nick Brennan, Petit Ange and Roeth and Grey. The band take their name from the Zen Buddhist term referring to a dialogue, or question, the meaning of which cannot be understood by rational or logical thinking. The music is available as a digital download from Section Records or all the usual online stores. If you'd like to explore the music, visit the Section Records site where both EPs are available to sample along with plenty more background detail.

MORPHEUS MUSIC REVIEWS

December 2011
Live electronic ambient zones.
Silent Currents opens with a bright spacey drone draped in gossamer layers that gradually gather and coalesce into a deep, dense mass of subtly heaving tone. Further tracks segue seamlessly into more distant evolutionary forms: keening synthetic threads wafting through the expanse; a dark turbulent void with percussive disturbances forming a link; fine airy pads and weightless washes support delicate sequencer structures; celestial synth voices and faint programmed lattices. Track nine sees a more percussive rhythm of liquid clicks and flecks and a low muted beat, complementary electronica coruscating about the central shade. A stronger beat of clattering drums that loom and recede stirs the penultimate piece of disc one before the silky serene finale floats skyward and evaporates so very slowly. The second disc is of similar nature to the first: back and forth ventures into the softness of light and the velvet of dark; fluid peculiarities and watery arpeggios; tinkling chimes and lead lines of a sighing whalesong-like nature looming dreamily out of sonic depths; lush guitar patterns echoing and swelling..

Silent Currents comes as a two CD package of three fold-out panels. Discs are held in plastic cradles in the two rightmost sections folding face to face. When opened out, the three sections reveal a double panel panorama of yellow/orange fractal channels cut into red earth and a group of performance images showing Erik at the keyboard or guitar. Track titles are simply numbers and are noted along with recording dates and details on the rear. Here too is a two paragraph explanation of the release and a note pointing out that "a portion of the proceeds from this album are donated to CIMA of PA, the non-profit corporation responsible for The Gatherings Concert Series. Internal imagery is shadowy and indistinct: sweeps of darkest olive green with small highlights.

Erik Wøllo presents here a pair of live performances originally recorded five years apart as part of the Star's End radio program. Disc one was initially captured in 2002; a twelve-track single piece that takes a more textural ambient approach than many of his studio albums. Disc two contains another long form ambient real-time recording, this time of fourteen sections. Silent Currents (Wøllo's fifteenth release) comes to us via Projekt Records as follow-up to his 2010 disc Gateway. Promotional material explains that Wøllo builds his live sets from pre-established/pre-programmed grooves and soundspaces augmenting them with improvised passages. The artist says "I brought various sound excerpts, loops and atmospheres, and performed and composed these into long continuous zones, all done in real time." Excerpts of the music can be found at Erik's own site as well at Projekt where a collection of other reviews may also be read.

MORPHEUS MUSIC REVIEWS

US Ohio based electronic musician Justin Vanderberg releases his first full length album since his 2007 debut In Waking Moments. Delivered this time via Spotted Peccary Records, Vanderberg presents a varied exploration of ambient harmony and sequencer driven electronica across eight mid-length compositions. Ranging from the delicate and relatively fleeting four minute nine When I Walk through to the burbling thirteen minute seven title track, Synthetic Memories demonstrates a bold and confident unity of vision. The artist explains "A synthetic memory stems from the safety of our perceived reality vs the fear of our individual truth. Ask yourself to define your reality, and you will most likely rely upon your memories to construct the story of you. However, what you think is true, may not be. And what you think cannot be true, very well could be." Visit the Spotted Peccary site for sound samples and more information.

MORPHEUS MUSIC REVIEWS