Just as it is difficult to write an ambient review that stands out, it is difficult to write an ambient album that stands out. Fortunately, Darren McClure’s On Opposites manages to emerge above a good number of similar releases, if only thanks to the breadth of material offered on it—an abundance of different timbres unfolding over the course of the album which runs well over an hour.
Ambient reviews tend to gravitate around the same vocabulary—layers, atmospheres, and a sense of journey. Of course this kind of comes with the territory, and just as it is difficult to write an ambient review that stands out, it is difficult to write an ambient album that stands out. Fortunately, Darren McClure’s On Opposites manages to emerge above a good number of similar releases, if only thanks to the breadth of material offered on it—an abundance of different timbres unfolding over the course of the album which runs well over an hour.
Somewhat like an archipelago, On Opposites alternates between longer tracks around the ten-minute mark and others between three and six minutes. The long cuts here are the main course, each with its own identity. “Reflecting,” for example, is more akin to drone and the experimental side of ambient, with its atonal texture and machine-like repetitive sounds soaked in reverb. The most remarkable track for a lot of listeners will probably be “Strange Slip In Time” with its Eno-esque mallets and bells which transition into the sound of rain washing away.
There is here an authentic love of synths and the sounds they make. “Slow Juno” is, quite aptly, a slow jam featuring the lush polyphony of the Roland instruments. The opener, “Archival Sketch,” is just a pleasant bath in all things waveforms. Not looking to distort, warp or bend these tones out of shape, Darren McClure offers a simple and old-school approach to ambient with a modern hindsight on synthesis and electronic music. But even if the palette of each track sounds reduced, there is a number of details, displacements and adjustments to keep us engaged and interested. Fine sonic craftsmanship.
On Opposites is available on Neotantra.
