Traveller marks the Finnish partnership’s third album, the last appearing in 2014, as it does a subtle shift in their sound. Rasping rhythms and tight percussive patterns are sidelined for this collection of eleven tracks.
I’ve put finger to keyboard, and to turntable, many a time for Morphology. From their recent Mind Stealers EP on Cultivated Electronics and their and Nucleosynthesis on AC Records to solo releases like Matti Turunen’s Elokuu 12” and Michael Diekmann’s collaboration as Virtu , I feel privileged, if not a little aged, to have tracked this pair of musical wizards for nigh-on a decade. Despite having the honor of putting words to their sounds, to describe their audio creations, I had yet to write about a Morphology album before Firescope made a welcome announcement.
Traveller marks the Finnish partnership’s third album, the last appearing in 2014, as it does a subtle shift in their sound. Rasping rhythms and tight percussive patterns are sidelined for this collection of eleven tracks. Instead, it is another element that has characterized this pair’s music which is the focus: absorbing melodies, that shift between brittle and fragile to bold and haunting. The ghosting “Distant Signal” opens the record. Lonesome and longing, the track is both rich and stark. Spartan snares tether ghosting chords and strings in an ephemeral work of wide expanses and arching horizons. “Second Light” follows a similar line. Delicate notes float on robust bass as crisp drums flash. A space motif runs through the record, from track titles to the very sound being explored. Yet, rather than focussing on the chill and darkness of the void Turunen and Diekmann set their focus on the wonder of the astral bodies above. At times this wonder takes on a detached and distant awe, like in “Hidden Variable,” while others, as with “Nebula Bipolar,” are more intimate affairs.
The influence of science fiction books and films isn’t to be discounted either, the frigid mechanics and atmospherics of “Pod Bay” could be the theme to an Asimov novel. Although elements of electronica and IDM have been woven through the entire album there are still some tracks for the right dancefloor. “Detached” elegantly stretches into being before morphing into a slicing work of cutting rhythms and sailing notes. Likewise, “Kernel Method,” with its soulful strings and piercing percussion, has just the right balance of beauty and bite. The album ends with the echoing “Deuteros,” final ambient signals floating into the sky.
Traveller isn’t an album that will surprise Morphology fans. True, some of their trademark sounds have been parred back but the core of their sound, the depth of expression which has garnered them such praise (from more than just myself) has been accentuated and emphasized. A definite future classic.
Traveller is available on Firescope.
