Heat Death is a sonic achievement allowing the listener to drift away in lost memories while its individual strands rest on solid foundations that will easily stand the test of time. With similar tones harking back to classic Boards Of Canada, Secret Frequency Crew, and Crisopa, Heat Death certainly reaches high elevations.
The return of Dalham (aka Jon Michaelides) signals an unearthing of evolved downtempo electronics and a comforting collection of surreal sonic treasures with his latest album Heat Death on Castles in Space. The Suffolk-raised and London-based artist continues to expand the terrain that was created on 2018’s Janus (Public House), with similar tones harking back to classic Boards Of Canada, Secret Frequency Crew, and Crisopa once again—a compliment to Dalham.
As the 2017 album Waves—also released on Public House—was described as “woozy tape-saturated electronica,” and Janus as “eroded melodies and washed-out downtempo percussion,” Dalham reaches just a bit further on Heat Death. With the liner notes indicating “an attempt to convey something about a plane beyond our immediate experience and perception,” Heat Death certainly reaches high elevations if you let the album sink in—the construct and deconstruct of each piece creates a nostalgic blur that is at once captivating as it is alluring—all the qualities inherent in the above-mentioned musicians’ scope of work.
Such an influx of vast, vagrant, and vexing tracks makes it difficult to focus on any one particular thread as the album is a thick, multidimensional fabric with many undulating textures. Favorites include “Antegon,” “Sigil,” “NGC 4993,” “Genesis,” and “Trinity.” There are also colorful echoes and chilled-out ambient-synth interludes such as “IRIS,” “Perihelion,” and “Infinite Key” that spark the senses in a cascading trajectory stitching everything up nicely.
In all, Heat Death is a sonic achievement allowing the listener to drift away in lost memories while its individual strands rest on solid foundations that will easily stand the test of time.
Heat Death is available on Castles in Space.
