There is a sense of parring back with The Night Album. Electronic elements are present, but they are employed subtly and without over elaboration. Instead, it is the Dobson’s own interaction with string and wind that is returned to with a renewed impetus and vigor. Captivatingly understated, Digitonal captures the glory of stopping and considering to those too forgotten sounds. An audio salve in an all too loud world.
Dobson explores nightfall across the nine tracks
2002. An eternity ago. George W. was in the White House and Blair in Downing Street. A World Cup had just ended in South Korea, the last that Ireland appeared in. And Digitonal released their first record on the forward-looking Toytronic. The album, 23: Things Fall Apart, was refreshing. A simple idea was adopted, the use of live instruments with electronics. String and synthesizer. Nothing new. However, what this group did different was the quality their musical talent. The tracks fizzed with an intensity. Subtle compositions that built to cinematic ardour were interspersed with reflective electronic meditations. Digitonal developed a live set that drew audiences in. The performance of machine and live music bridged the gap between the human and the computer. A synergy of ambient, classical and electronica was found.
Releases continued. Just Music became the group’s home with albums like Save Your Light for Darker Days, Beautiful Broken and Set the Weather Fair. Twenty four years after 23: Things Fall Apart, Digitonal is now represented by Andy Dobson and his latest album, The Night Album, marks the first vinyl release since the days of Toytronic.
Dobson explores nightfall across the nine tracks. Opening with “The Winter Journal,” an immediate intimacy is established. Ambient and downtempo, the track is unassuming and delicately balanced. Notes twinkle, piano and xylophone whispered to by rim shots. The album marks Dobson’s leaving of London, moving from the capital for the quieter surrounds of Suffolk. “Exit City” is the anthem of this exodus. A cascade of notes fall, slipping past one another like trains flashing through stations, before dreamy undulations leave helter-skelter in the rear view mirror. An escape to nature is at the collection’s core. Sea and sky open in the expanses of “For the Birds.” Vocals floating on warm currents of flute, below a meandering melody is held by brittle beats. Birds, their fluidity of movement, are a feature The Night Album. “Sparrowhawk” is a methodical affair. Soaring high above, beats and keys arrive to the listener from a distance.
Elusive and glowing, “Night Sparrow” is an ephemeral and blissfully joyous piece where the burgeoning light of day breaks through in warming bars. This interaction with nature is also a journey of introspection, to a place where one is in solitude. “Evening Song” borders on the unease of this apparent aloneness. Phone-like trills resonate into vanishing points, a skeletal snare keeps time as mellower notes find comfort in this new space. “Moon Sequence” draws the collection to a close. A gentle melody wanes, waxing into grandeur as Dobson’s instruments sing to the lunar phases.
There is a sense of parring back with The Night Album. Electronic elements are present, but they are employed subtly and without over elaboration. Instead, it is the Dobson’s own interaction with string and wind that is returned to with a renewed impetus and vigor. Captivatingly understated, Digitonal captures the glory of stopping and considering to those too forgotten sounds. An audio salve in an all too loud world.
The Night Album is available on Just Music. [Bandcamp]
