CONTINUUM

This is a collaboration between Steven Wilson's Bass Communion and Vidna Obmana. This is all very electronic sounding. It is ambient and tuneless. There is no percussion. There are a lot of electronic sounds and droning throughout. It is spacious, dark and leaves you feeling very abandoned. It is the sound of utter loneliness. Don't expect any movement in this music except for the last half of the last track, which could either mean a light at the end of the tunnel that you are hoping you can reach, or, most likely, just a mirage and when you get there, you realize it wasn't really there. That's the feeling you get when the last track builds your hope with movement in the music, not necessarily from percussion even though there is some non-rhythmic percussive sounds here (and only here), but then it just passes quietly away to leave you with an electronic drone, signifying nothing has changed.

The atmosphere is what this is all about. Unfortunately, it doesn't hold much to keep you interested, so it might work best as background music unless you want to just close your eyes and float. I have heard some Bass Communion which, even though it is beautifully sparse, it still has something to offer in the way of substance, though little. This usually works to the BC advantage, but not here. All three tracks (except for the end) don't really change much. I can only rate this as a collectors/fans album because it doesn't really seem to accomplish much, but what little does get accomplished has been done more effectively on other BC albums. 2 stars.