Thanks to Pink B for this break from the action in an overstimulated world, and to bright days of true connection that await ahead. This is emotional electronic music that helps the listener get back in touch with their own humanity.
How emotionally in touch electronic music can be
Back in the seventies there were many who took a dim view of electronic music, especially if it was made using computers. On the one hand, it was the heyday of prog-rock, with its focus on technical virtuosity and bands who could play a lot of notes in odd time signatures in tight knit units. I like some prog. Nothing wrong with it. Do your thing. But they seemed to throw a lot of shade towards those who had a different musical vision. On the other hand, the seventies were when the first wave of punk hit its crest. They said to hell with all this noodling and stripped back the excessive ornamentation, taking rock music back to its raucous roots. For some members of either camp—despite the number of synths used in prog—electronic music was viewed as a cold tool of the establishment. These views started to change in the eighties when the many genres of electronic music started to proliferate as they escaped the laboratories and home brewed studios where the stuff was first made.
In the time since, it has been shown that electronic music can be just as emotionally resonant and capable of capturing our many moods as anything else, despite the fact it was made with machines. And like prog, classical, or jazz, it has its share of virtuoso players and producers. And like punk it has its share of those who want to take things back to the core elements of sound in all its rawness showcasing pure feeling with sound.
Of the many cultural changes that have occurred in the interim between the DIY explosion of the seventies and now is the amount of news and information everyone is exposed to on a daily basis, even as newspapers, alt-weeklies, and radio have seen a sharp decline. The new socila media has bombarded our consciousness. Warhol’s fifteen minutes of fame is gone. Now, as someone said somewhere on the internet “On the Web, everyone will be famous to fifteen people.” The effect this has on people’s minds can be seen all around us, and for the creative artist it can have quite a deleterious effect. Isolation from all of our social media inputs is often needed to rediscover what is within us waiting to be born.
“Isolation from all of our social media inputs is often needed to rediscover what is within us waiting to be born.” ~Justin Patrick Moore
This short record from Pink B was created with the idea that “we are more and more assailed from negative news. I’m not just referring to the disarming wars that we all know, but also, from an artist perspective, we feel lost and overexposed to commercial media. We increasingly need to rediscover our talents, mission and spirit, letting the time pass without being oppressed or dejected. By encompassing our essence we can decide to simply become ourselves.”
Pink B’s album is a way to feel into that concept. A Close Connection With Your Soul works by creating a cocoon around the listener that they can shield themselves within. These pieces help to disengage from the vagaries of overstimulation through too much media exposure. The songs cover a gamut of feeling, and show just how emotionally in touch electronic music can be. From the melancholy “Memories” that opens the suite of songs, to the ebullient “Expected Version of Events,” the pieces are well crafted synth-scapes drizzled with downtempo beats perfect for recovering from the hectic pace of life in your own private chill room. Piano and other keyed melodies wrap the stereo field in blankets of shimmering texture. “The Long Wait for a Natural Reaction,” features a looped line backed by deep bass swells and percolating high-hat hits. The last track “Hidden Happiness” shows what is often there in plain sight, if only we look for it. Crystal synths and slow arpeggiations reveal layers of bright sound, but we have to pause for a moment, tune in, and peel back the layers of the onion to find those moments.
Thanks to Pink B for this break from the action in an overstimulated world, and to bright days of true connection that await ahead. This is emotional electronic music that helps the listener get back in touch with their own humanity.
A Close Connection With Your Soul is available on Wireframe Clouds. [Bandcamp]
