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review by Dene Bebbington This is the latest album by Nick Webb (the man behind the name Farfield and its label). I've not heard Farfield's other albums and so cannot comment on any changes in style, but apparently Sonic Entities represents a slight departure from previous albums - so I guess fans of Farfield don't need to worry about this being a radical change of tack. After several listens I can say that it's classy laid back chillout/ambient music with a rather distinctive sonic style, though the mid-tempo rhythmic pieces or the more drifting ambient pieces provide familiar structures. The first thing that struck me about Sonic Entities is how it's got plenty going on to keep one's attention but is also restful - a balance I found particularly satisfying. Nick has woven together a coherent listening experience across eight discrete tracks that make use of synths, piano, drum beats, percussion, female vocal harmonies, and treated sound samples. Atmospheric is an overused word, yet I can think of none better to describe this work which often engendered a curious sense of expectation without really knowing what the expectation was. Getting the album underway is "Spinning Away" which gives a good introduction to the musical territory being explored. Sound samples taken at a railway station comprise the first minute or so before slowly giving way to hi-hat percussion, easygoing drum beats, and layers of synth washes. Some of the synth tones reminded me a little of some elements on Gary Numan's The Pleasure Principle, though I'm not sure if that's coincidence or if Numan was a musical influence on Nick. It's on this track that we first hear the gorgeous and wordless female harmony vocals by Anna-Jane Vine and Tamsin Vine; these vocals have been expertly used to be an integral part of the music rather than as just another texture. Railway station sound samples crop up in few of the tracks, I think they made listening to the album feel like being on a train journey where one's mind sinks into a comfortable reverie as the scenery changes. So the atmosphere is very much down to earth, apart from "Space Opens Up" where expansive synth washes brush across the soundscape in a cosmic spacemusic manner. Sonic Entities is a great all rounder of an album, it works well as pleasing background when doing other things or better still as music to chillout with or listen to carefully - it's not demanding without being boring. Definitely one for any ambient/EM fan's collection. |
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