DEPARTURES

Though this is Javier's fifth studio album release, this is only my second encounter with a Javier Miranda product. Based on my favorable review and impression of one of his previous albums, 2021's Strange Imperfection and the raving reviews this album is currently receiving, I've decided to give it a listen.

1. "Everything" (11:03) a repeat loop of two quick-arpeggiated chords from a piano over which various strange, unsettling 21st Century almost-industrial sounds are mixed, all the while the original piano loop is slowly fading into the background is not quite enough, in my humble opinion, to warrant a whole eleven minute song; perhaps as an exploration, but not for publication and a demand of consumer compensation. (15/20)

2. "In Transit" (9:00) another two-chord repetition ad infinitum. There is a mood, an emotional provocation going on here, I'm just not sure what it is (supposed to be). (16.75/20)

3. "The Descent" (11:04) another (basically) two-chord keyboard repetition over which some post-apocalyptic horror sounds are woven cannot assuage my frustration and disappointment. (17/20)

4. "Resurrection" (13:07) are the dissonant oscillations of a flange effects box really what Javier thinks the "in- between"/Bar-Do sounds/feels like? Then bring into the mix the fact that he uses the sound of some preset rhythm track from a cheesy Casiotone-like drum machine to represent the gradual rise of the resurrecting being is comical, even farcical! I do appreciate, however, the gradual and variable speeds Javier uses to represent the dys- (or a-)temporal "processs" that resurrection might require. (21.5/25)

Total Time 44:14

I'm disappointed with Javier's regression. A pre-occupation with two-chord baseline formats is not enough without further threads in the weave, without ample development over the top. This pioneering musician can do and has done better.

C/three stars; a rather disappointing and unsatisfying offering to the lexicon of Progressive Electronic music. Unfortunately, it is my opinion that the four songs here are not representative of anything of long-lasting interest to the music world.