(05.07.05) Bye Bye Gridlock Traffic is Lennard Van Der Last’s debut album under the Secede moniker. Van Der Last’s previous output consisted of just a handful of remixes for the likes of Machine Drum, Proem, Sleepy Town Manufacture and Ilkae along with the MP3 track “Whistler” and “Mommylove & Daddypride” MP3 EP on respected internet label Monotonik – all as Secede. A glance through the CD booklet also reveals that Van Der Last’s own photography is featured on the CD artwork.
Bye Bye Gridlock Traffic opens with the beautifully calming ambience of “Ballroom Arcade,” complete with a tropical thunderstorm, swooping melodies and Back To The Future samples. From there “Big Day Out” soothes further with a gentle melodic orchestral piece. Just when you think you have this album worked out it discretely changes the ambience of the setting, getting quietly darker, moodier and more introspective. By the time track 4, “Crave & Fall,” arrives the stage is set for Secede’s mix of tense bassy electronics against a smooth steadily drifting textural backdrop to draw your attention and hold it intently. The mood lifts briefly during the short interlude “Depart & Arrive” but soon returns to form with “Unbound.” It is not until later in the album – “Return to Island CX” – that a much airier, optimistic and upbeat tone prevails, the music becomes bright, the beats kick in and melodies are summery and joyful. Detached voices, reflective piano keys, electronic crackles, discrete looped beats and textures sweeping in and out of view, it is all here and all carefully constructed to create the right mood. That mood also changes throughout the course of the album, starting out calm and relaxed, going through a series of darkly introspective journeys that finally become optimistic, positive and energized before becoming more mellow and reflective again as the album closes.
An absorbing album that sets a scene and draws your imagination to it, holding you there and taking you wherever you want to go. That place is probably somewhere quite dark and unwelcoming, but not entirely unfamiliar. A great album that doesn’t try to impress but probably will if you give it a chance.
Bye Bye Gridlock Traffic is out now on Merck.
