Showing posts with label Carbon Based Lifeforms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carbon Based Lifeforms. Show all posts

Friday 14 July 2023

Carbon Based Lifeforms "Seeker" (2023)

 

 Thirteen years on from Interloper, now a classic in my collection, I wanted to hear if Seeker retains the infectious charm this breed of spacey downtempo ambient offers. With many consecutive spins, the dazzling repetition of whirling melancholic melodies did not meld to an intensity felt once before. Perhaps the familiarity dulled its impact. Seeker is loaded with wondrous music to inspire awe and astonishment, its astral evoking leading many compositions on a similar trajectory. Humble beginnings gradually bloom into emotional swells contemplating our mysterious universe and the roll we take within in. Far from existential, these emotive arrangements arouse a glorious curiosity, sparking the imagination on a galactic perspective whilst also reflecting inwards, as such incomprehensible scales often stir introspection.

Its aesthetic design and arrangement of electronic instruments is a web of details and intricacies one can get lost in. Timely reverberations and lofty tonalities feed into the themes tapestry. Human voices weave in on rare occasions, often with breathy wordless interpretations and an occasional hint of lyrics. The driving forces are its emergent key melodies and swells of percussion that amass intensity as peaks are summited in a songs climactic pass. Much of this could be applied to previous records yet despite similarity and familiarity birthed from my many spins, Seeker didn't resonate on that deeper level. Its a high bar to reach for and shouldn't deter from the soothing spiritual moods the music stirs. Definitely one for the Temporal Focus playlist!

Rating: 7/10

Wednesday 18 May 2016

Carbon Based Lifeforms "Twentythree" (2011)


It would appear I've found my niche with this Swedish duo's ambient project CBL who's previous record "Interloper" is a completely different style and form of soundscape music. Despite such a difference they tap into my preferred sound waves and with "Twentythree" we are submerged into soft ambiguous drones of non specific and continual sound that organically repeats over like a flowing stream of water as opposed to some mechanical operation. These drones are light and cloudy, foggy and mysterious, dense and transparent all in the same instance.

The record flows as a single track and the nuances of each drone may pass you by as this record drifts into the subconscious, creating a mood and environment without form or awareness. It has its darker drones, spacey, aquatic and all of them come with some form of buried and smothered sampling. Maybe its voices, bells, a water stream, an effeminate voice singing, birds chirping of even a dog barking if not an electronic lead playing a melody can sometimes be heard lost in the depths. Deep in the soundscape many sounds converge in the density which doesn't come over like a wall of sound but more like a rabbit hole that gets deeper the more you peer in and give it your attention.

Even though these dreamy ambiance pieces are vivid, rich and poised in the easy listening spectrum they do succumb to the perceived limits of such music where your foreground attention can be lulled. These are songs for the subconscious, the backdrop and serve a purpose as powerful and meditative music to condition the mind for focus on a task at hand. This is the sort of record to drop on when your attention is required elsewhere, the result, a wash of calm and tranquility. If your already in that mood it can serve as a door for your limitless imagination.

Rating: 7/10

Sunday 8 May 2016

Carbon Based Lifeforms "Interloper" (2010)


Carbon Based Lifeforms, or CBL, are a Swedish ambient music duo from Gothenburg who I was entirely unaware of until a recent recommendation. Sometimes ambient music can be a term for musical approach, performance or philosophy more so than a style or genre. CBL could be different based on your interpretation but what I heard was the cosmic jam of space ambience, the sounds of stars and constellations. This particular waveform of ambience was right on my level and with just one listen I was swept up above the hemisphere, understanding the purpose of this record and the journey it would take me on.

Reminiscent of Tangerine Dream's swirling, unraveling synthesizer drones, CBL takes on an organic form of electronic evolution where the most passive of short melodies can be gloriously engrossing in the subconscious as contracting passageways steadily shrink and expand in turn with easy paced, down tempo beats. Layers of soft electronic sounds decorate the soothing atmospheres with an ever changing design of minimal details to drench the tracks in an authentic depth that can almost go unnoticed. These 6-8 minute compositions are crafted with a care to let the power of an idea sink in deep with just one melody leading the way. There is no climax, or glory but an ever changing state around a single melody that holds together an emotion, idea or whatever it is you find in the music.

For me the visions these soundscape conjured were of futuristic flashing lights swirling in the cosmic abyss, the comforts of a science fiction fantasy realm where technology meets the limits of existence and you are the observer. Fantastic music for driving at night, seeing the stars in the sky and the passing lights of cars, cities and road lights. Its calming, soothing and chilled out and its great to hear it in such a package that lets the seventy one minutes breeze by without a thought. Its my go to ambient record right now.

Favorite Songs: Central Plain, Supersede, Euphoric
Rating: 8/10