Up until now we’ve had to make do with the appearances that BLN has put out on compilations with Touched Music, and more recently on Neo Ouija’s fantastic Cottage Industries 8 collection. But no longer. Fresh from Romania, Victor Popescu supplies us with a well thought-out and creative approach to both production and sound design.
Up until now we’ve had to make do with the appearances that BLN has put out on compilations with Touched Music, and more recently on Neo Ouija’s fantastic Cottage Industries 8 collection. But no longer. Fresh from Romania, Victor Popescu supplies us with a well thought-out and creative approach to both production and sound design.
The debut album Multiverse is a stunner opening with “Matter”—this one really gives off a Wendy Carlos/Rachel Elkind vibe and is reminiscent of the best 80s synth soundtracks to dystopian mini-series. The transition into “Gravity” is nice—a fade-in which is less common these days but quickly gets to the point. Drawing on the world of science for the naming of tracks, I have to frequently remind myself that I’m listening to produced and organised sound, rather than actually in some kind of experiment to test my perception of things. “Bosons” has a lovely chord progression, I feel its biggest strength are the background bell-like sound. Arguably the quietest part of the track, they really do hold it all together. “Tau” is a good working track, percussive and confident synth rhythms meld perfectly with gilde-driven pads and other goodness. “Dark Energy” almost feels as if exm has taken over for a short while, it’s certainly dark and definitely full of energy. And despite the almost-hectic pace and sinister backchannel twirling of “Muon,” this track really plays with me due to its comparative lack of high end. Things feel very muted up there and it gives a great space quality to things. Fantastic brain-food.
The majority of the release is of a relatively relaxed and laid-back pace, with the second half a fantastic display of beeps, whooshes and harmonically-rich sound. And then there’s “Hadron.” Everything changes and words escape me. It’s got the 2nd beat strength that I love with dissonance all over the place. Getting progressively more hectic, its abrupt disappearance left me quite sad that it was over. Think “Flight of the Navigator” but with evil intentions (what an awesome film that would have been). Things are wrapped up with “Dust,” which is where we all end up in the end anyway. It’s a strong outro and one befitting of this release. We even get a remix from veteran ambient producer Arovane to polish things off.
Multiverse is available on Touched Music.
