SPLINTERS, VOL. II: BRUISE

I had given the first part of the "Splinters" five stars and was of course very curious about the second part. Once more this is very tasteful, subtle, and atmospheric progressive electronic music with exactly the mix of structure, meditation, and sound experimentation that I love. The sound is once more amazing. It is surely rather minimal music, and nobody will cal it "rock" despite the post rock past of the band. There are rhythmic elements, but normally that's only a periodically repeated sound or beat, just to give the music some spine, but not in any way dominating. About half of the time there's no rhythmic sound at all. In fact we are surely not on solid earthly grounds here, one could either associate outer space or underwater with this music. Also it is very slow and requires patience and/or the ability to immerse oneself in meditative sound. Sure, neither underwater nor in outer space the human concept of time has much of a meaning. Still, despite the slow and minimalist proceedings, the music is more inventive than much that I've heard from the progressive electronic camp, and despite its experimental character, it is quite gentle to the ears.

Vol. I of Splinters had just a single track of 43 minutes. The second volume starts with the 24 minutes of "Bruise", which concept- and quality-wise is the legitimate continuation of Vol. I. On top of it we get five shorter tracks, "Receptor" and "Nydised" around 9 minutes, the other three around six minutes. Stylistically these are not different from Vol. I and "Bruise", however "Tremor" from Vol. I and "Bruise" together can be seen as the real five star masterpiece "Splinters". This music works best on the grand scale with plenty of time for and effort devoted to development. I do like the other five tracks, too, but they have a less elaborated and cohesive feel and lack the genius to really shine on their own as much as the two-part excursion of which only a third is to be found on the Vol. II album. They would work well as tasters to announce the magnum opus, but as things stand, we get the magnum opus first (including Vol. I of course) and then some more music that has a certain "cutting room floor" feel. No complaints really, but I ultimately end up with 3.7 stars rather than the 5 stars of Vol. I. Still I recommend this mainly for the very rewarding 24 minutes of "Bruise", to be listened together with Vol. I.

One of my favorite artists of the 21st Century continues to evolve in ways and directions that keep blowing my mind!

1. "Bruise" (23:45) Though this one started off a bit like some of Alio Die and Jon Hassell/Brian Eno's less engaging, more challenging music, it became one of the most gut- and heart-wrenching pieces of music I've heard all year! Those chords and incidental and glitch sounds in the fifth & sixth minutes are so beautiful, so ethereal, so engaging! Then we slowly transition into the incredible eighth minute and wow! a piano chord at 7:48 nearly makes my knees buckle! Ryuichi Sakamoto land, to be sure! The shifting synth-wash chord changes are killing me! At 11:30 there begins another slow, subtle shift, taking over four minutes of peaceful water's edge bar-do to fully reveal the next motif: stark piano arpeggi flying over the drone of the Earth's deep thrum with clouds and bird synths and, later, Middle Eastern human city flitting into the astral excursion. This is one out-of-body experience that I wanted to go on forever! (47.5/50)

2. "Receptor" (8:44) a very cool series of beautifully- and seemlessly-blended loops in which simple aural tropospheres are generated using heavily-treated, dream-like effects. Not sure if this one is more Blade Runner-like industrial Off-World or street-bound Earth during COVID dystopia. My favorite sounds are the human ones-- especially the whistles. (18.5/20)

3. "Vacrys" (5:38) I hear HAROLD BUDD and ROBIN GUTHRIE in this one. (9/10)

4. "Nydised" (9:24) like an ambient percussive exploration that PAT METHENY & LYLE MAYS would use--especially if collaborating on a HANS ZIMMER soundtrack. Incredible! Like waiting at a Far-tube stop somewhere out in the cosmos! (18.5/20)

5. "Jikan" (6:07) more piano-based floating. More Budd (and Battlestations) than Guthrie or Eno. Incredible chord changes! More hypnotically incredible! (9.25/10)

6. "Unelind" (6:39) beautiful waves of synth washes among a mix of celestial "sounds" and temporal atmospherics (drums). Gorgeous and transportive: like an Ed Unitsky album cover or a steam ship into the Galactos! (9.5/10)

Total Time 61:01

This man is an absolute genius! How/Why he's not getting more attention and fame I do not understand for he's merely evolved from writing the soundtrack of our times (war, degradation, and collapse), and our kind (hope amid brutish cruelty), to the soundtracks of our future (cosmically)! This is the kind of music that makes me so proud to be Homo sapiens sapiens! I can't get enough of his chord choices and powerful, deeply moving chord changes!

A/five stars; an absolute masterpiece of Progressive Electronic music--music for our infinite future! HIGHLY recommended!