The variety displayed on Destiny is quite incredible, as Vagon Brei ferries his listener from ice moons to gaseous giants and on to warring planets and lush verdant plains.
[Release page] Tape deck sales are up and an unprecedented number are reclaiming old stereos and digging in closets for forgotten Walkmen. Tapes are back. Seattle based Further Records has been one of the labels responsible for the cassette resurgence, recently serving up Pye Corner Audio, The North Sea and Hieroglyphic Being on magnetic strip. For its latest, Vagon Brei and his LP Destiny, this North Western imprint has gone for the double format of tape cassette and good ole vinyl.
The ominously titled “A New Beginning” opens Destiny and if you close your eyes hard enough you might just see a decaying hand reaching over your shoulder. The listener is transported to the world of synth soundtracks and the Arps of Fabio Frizzi echo. Think something along the lines of “Zombi” and your on the right track. However it isn’t through the ritualistic and primal jungles that Vagon Brei is escorting us, but beyond the stratosphere into the depths of space. We break through into the vacuum as ambient space descends and a vast nebula opens. By the time “Living in Destiny” enters it’s clear that Vagon Brei likes to blur the borders of the understated and the dramatic. The soundtrack motif pours forth, with some of the synth movements having a touch of Legowelt to them. “Another Day in Space” departs on a new trajectory, a piece of analogue rich electro with rising and falling synthlines a good beat and some whimsical samples. A wonderful piece of work. “Look That Star” gently wads through the astral landscape, a somewhat ambient track with a drum. The void returns with the ambient epic of “Lost Temple.” A devastating simple and effective string line menaces the outer and inner reaches, piercing the track in a blunt and relentless manner. The variety displayed on Destiny is quite incredible, as Vagon Brei ferries his listener from ice moons to gaseous giants and on to warring planets and lush verdant plains. To end this expedition of wonder is “Without Hope,” an ice speckled work of home-crafted electronics.
Destiny is a deep and varied piece of electronic music. Vagon Brei skips through styles, browsing them with the excited eyes of a child and the expert hand of a master. But as he skips he doesn’t deviate from his galactic theme, grounding the album throughout in the awe and enormousness of the astral heavens. This is one for the lights down, and headphones on. A triumph for both artist and label.
Destiny is out now on Further. [Release page]
