A fascinating listen and auditory odyssey of the mind, Time Safari is—hands down—one of the best electronic EPs of the year.
Clarian is an accomplished time traveler. If this was ever in question regarding the intrepid music producer and science fiction fan, his new EP Time Safari is the resounding answer. Released on Kompakt, the four track is an imaginative, detailed, and beautifully executed journey of layered groove. Through the use of pulsing drum machines and arpeggiated synths (at times marimba-like), along with transformed field recordings and effected vocal narration, he provides an anthropological experience through the lens of a person from the future. In analog glory, the EP harkens the primordial rhythms of life and before you can realize it, you’re instinctively bobbing your head or moving your body.
The album’s title track possesses a shadowy cyber discotheque vibe as you enter into the sonic world he’s created. From there “Ancient Cave” continues to carry you with a steady beat and subtle pads underneath a progressive and colorful arp. Then onward to “Early Life,” a track that finds you surveying the plains millions of years ago, as if you’re witnessing the myriad and rapidity of expanding biological life right in your visage. Of course, this is all only possible to you because of your guide and through the impulsively danceable music which serves as the vessel to transport you.
Experientially reminiscent of the decommissioned Disney attractions “Adventure Through Inner Space,” “Mission to Mars,” or even the original “Submarine Ride,” this all becomes fully transparent on the EP’s final track, a nearly 23-minute-long and different ambient version of “Time Safari” where the spoken narration is more audible and documents this scientific traverse through the history of existence. At one point a parallel is drawn between the similarities of human DNA and that of a sea urchin, “floating listlessly in a still pool” while Clarian records the sound of it. A fascinating listen and auditory odyssey of the mind, Time Safari is—hands down—one of the best electronic EPs of the year.
Time Safari is available on Kompakt
