These tracks are laden with beauty and emotion, pulsing with a quiet hopefulness, ruminating with that which is difficult to tie down in words.
In the pantheon of electronic music it can be easy for some genres to shine brighter than others. It’s not that these genres are better or anything, it’s just they are given more attention. I would say 2014 has been a continued focus on House with New Wave and Minimal Synth, especially from US labels, coming in a close second. Electro has been there with some artists enjoying an exceptional run and Techno maintaining itself with some superb outings (and some less superb.) Ambient and experimental seem to sit at the lower levels of this stratum. Said hierarchy does not reflect quality, it just reflects what’s “hot” and what’s “not” amongst DJ charts and the critic’s ear. But there have been some fantastic records in 2014 that fill that amorphous, ultra porous, style known as Ambient or Electronica. Just as the bells rang in, the Spaniards filled their mouths with grapes, Emptyset’s We Elude Control had one last walk down soundscape lane.
Ralph Cumbers (aka Bass Clef and Some Truths) has presented his vivid aural creations on Pan and Alter, and for We Elude Control the London based artist offers up Bliss Abyss. For this double LP the Londoner fixed up an aging, broken, TR606 and used the legendary machine and its classic patterns to build a foundation from which ephemeral expressions could flower. Cascading strings and heart wrenching keys are at the core of Cumbers’ compositions. Ricocheted pings, static and field sounds are all found in Some Truths but so are elements of Glitch and IDM. Pieces like “This Love Will Make You Levitate” refuse to be categorized, instead styles blend and bleed. A wonderful fragility is built, detailed layering and a softness of expression permeates the album. The curtain falls with the epic “Comedown.” Keys are doubled with distortion, fogged in feedback, folded in on themselves before being consumed in rinsing treble.
I’ve always expected a full return of Electronica or whatever you want to call it. I now feel that this will never come. That time has passed and given way to something else, something just as special. Bliss Abyss is part of that new lineage. Cumbers is an artist who constructs absorbing and abstract works. These tracks are laden with beauty and emotion, pulsing with a quiet hopefulness, ruminating with that which is difficult to tie down in words.
Bliss Abyss is available on We Can Elude Control.
