The debut album from this Swedish duo offers up well over an hour's worth of music that was originally to be used as the soundtrack for dance performances (Say what!?) and was recorded over the course of two years in both Sweden and Germany. The compositions are based largely around musical synths, with some somber singing vocals or samples deep in the mix on occasion, and some programmed percussion and slightly noisier textures as well ("noisier" basically meaning less structured or perhaps barely more menacing). Most of the tracks run more than five minutes, with a few reaching as many as 12 or 15, but the atmosphere caters to these lengths very well. I don't find myself getting bored or anything like that. Of course there are some tracks that I enjoy more than others, as sometimes the musical nature of the songs or simply the synth tones they've chosen to use don't particularly interest me, but some of the more involved and perhaps more subtly abrasive tracks such as "Like Sand Slips Through My Fingers" and "Thought There Was More to Come" are excellent pieces of work. It's no coincidence that these are also among the few tracks that include vocals, which I find to be a very strong element that should be explored further here. As with every release I can remember hearing from the Ad Noiseam label, the recording on this CD sounds absolutely wonderful. Everything is clear, full, loud, and detailed. The layering and stereo effects shine though without confusion, a wide tonal range is covered... it's just a very professional effort. The layout is simply incredible as well. The CD (which has some nice black on black printing on its face) is housed in a matte maroon digipack with the front cover images and text pressed into the package with black ink. Then, instead of a booklet, there are six square card inserts, also printed on matte paper, that collect an assortment of photos, illustrations, text, etc. All of the colors used are shades of black, maroon, and white, and most of the imagery is sketches of stuffed animals or something like that. But it really does look exceptionally nice. This is a good, strong release. I'd love to hear them do more work with the vocals and the faint industrial elements of tracks such as "Like Sand Slips Through My Fingers", but either way they've got a lot going for them.
[Ad Noiseam]
Running time - 71:26, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Like Sand Slips Through My Fingers, Your Mind Blew Across the Grass in Ripples, Thought There Was More to Come]
Ad Noiseam - http://www.adnoiseam.net
