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review by Bill Binkelman Robert Solheim (a.k.a. Current) has quickly become one of my favorite CEM (contemporary electronic music) artists. The man has an exceptional ability to compose all manner of electronica and rhythmic EM, and I can find no weakness in his multi-faceted approach, either. Communion (based, at least somewhat, on author Whitley Strieber's controversial book of the same name that detailed Strieber's encounter with aliens) is yet another offering of perfectly engineered and artfully produced electronic music tracks that run the gamut from floating spacemusic to pulsing dance beat numbers to ambient dub to drum and bass and all manner of hybrids as well. This wizardly-like art of alchemy (i.e.performing in a multiplicity of EM genres) seems to be particularly prevalent among some European artists, since I heard the same skill displayed by English artist David Wright on Walking With Ghosts and the Dutch artist Frank Von Bogaert on Human. However, where Wright infuses some new age melodicism into his music and Van Bogaert borrows some of his motifs from the Berlin school of EM, Solheim's sounds almost totally reside in an electronic music landscape that is not anchored in any one established "language." There are fifteen tracks on Communion, with lengths that vary from just over two minutes to almost eight minutes. Despite the presence of disparate musical styles, tempos, and moods, the continuity factor is high because of Solheim's identifiable approach to electronic rhythms and his choice of keyboards, which serve to tie the album together throughout its entirety. The album opens amidst the sound of waves, soft piano-like notes, and reverberating triangles on "communion-before reality" before segueing into the first rhythmic track, "ghost trip" (which was also released as a single in Europe). Haunting theremin-like undulations float over a nice combination of deep bass and bright beats, soon peppered with spacy computer blooping-bleeping effects and lush synth chords. "crossfield" is a laid-back downtempo affair, with a bit of retro-futurism thrown in, courtesy of some analog-sounding keyboards, as well as some snazzy snare rhythms and sonar-echo effects. "plaza circular" is another slower tempo cut, this time leaning more in the direction of chill-out, with heavy bass beats, fuzzy synth tones, and semi-glitch percussive textures. One of my favorite tracks is next. "no sign of life" makes good use of a vocoder spoken-word dialogue snippet ("Listen/to the radio/no sign of life/static/just static/static/just static") but it's the plaintive piano, analog keyboard notes and swirling synths that made my ears prick up on this one! That's just the first five tracks, my friends. As you may have surmised, I could easily continue on describing each cut from here on out, but that would be too verbose, even for me. Other selections that merit special mention, though, include "sunday sunburn" (nice slice of contemporary mid-to-fast tempo electronica), "sign/alien" (creepy floating darkish ambient washes of sound), and "patterns" (a cheery combination of shimmering synth textures and a wide assortment of different percolating beats with a decidedly "golden age of EM" feel to it). The closest comparison I can make to Current/Solheim (and its more of a comparison of the overall concept of Solheim's music rather than a distinct sonic similarity) is Todd Fletcher, who also works completely within an electronic music vein, and who also avoids any of the more commonly known themes (e.g. Berlin school). Both of these artists compose in such a way that their music is recognizable as their own, although you'd be hard-pressed to articulate how you are able to identify it as such. But all of that is just so much intellectualizing (something us music reviewers are supposed to do to show that we are not just drooling fans). When it comes to Solheim's music, and Communion in particular, you may as well know that I'm going to be drooling with the rest of the folks who can't get enough of such a tasty mélange of electronic musical bliss. Yum-yum, may I please have some more? Highly recommended, of course! |
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