Cerebral and comforting with a certain degree of distance and even sadness washing over some compositions. Machine music where emotion and feeling are the focus.
Cerebral and comforting with a certain degree of distance
“Debut release circa 1994—the music was lost in time.” These are press release lines that get juices flowing. “Warm melodic techno cuts and nostalgic ambient pieces…” and I’m salivating as if a steaming plate of neeps and tatties had been placed under my nose.
The description belongs to a record that Edinburgh’s Kieran Warren, aka Atonal, wrote. The LP was set for release some twenty years back on Metatone, a label whose life was short but whose output was seriously impressive. Sadly, fate had other plans and the album never saw the light of a turntable.
Cold Blow has been delving into the annals of Metatone with a cracking compilation featuring Electro Music Union, Sinoesin and Xonox. Now the Helsinki London imprint are returning to Atonal, following his Cithare EP, for a full fledged LP in the form of Bridge.
The pensive “Braid Hills” opens the record, cold keys shivering in late Scottish Summer sun. A steady kick proves fertile soil for “Codeine” with its sprite-like chords and sodden bass. In comparison with Cithare, the album is a far more relaxed affair and perfect audio fare for these Winter months. “CP1919” is cut from a similar cloth to “Codeine” with understated and sparse melodies hovering over pulsating drums. A touch of melancholy permeates the collection, the fragile retrospection of “This Heat,” the brooding ambience of “Molly” and the isolation of “Edina H” broaching darker moods. “Flight” occupies another plain. Trudging stomps crash into misted notes in an industrial dreamscape. Yet, this piece lies outside the orbit of this album. These are early electronic musings at a time when the sounds of techno were daring to leave the club and inhabit an altogether more intimate place. Perhaps the greatest expression of this comes with the final piece, an eight minute almost beatless odyssey entitled “Arkanoids.” Alluring and lonesome, this curtain close could almost summarize Bridge.
Atonal appeared on my radar when Cithare came out, the hazy hi-hats and full bodied kicks immediately recalled Polygon Window. The press release also draws on an Aphex Twin comparison. Undeniably there is a bit of Richard D. James in every electronic artist, but the similarities on that EP really are uncanny. Warren was influenced by electronics from the 1990s, but it is his own unique sound that chimes with Bridge. Cerebral and comforting with a certain degree of distance and even sadness washing over some compositions. Machine music where emotion and feeling are the focus.
Bridge is available on Cold Blow. [Bandcamp]
