Refreshing
Caeli Lohr | Gainesville, FL United States | 08/17/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This CD is warm, melodic, very skillfully produced and has real emotional depth. It is one of those rare releases that i feel compelled to play from beginning to end - and then start again.
And then put on random/repeat all for a few hours.
... I feel that the quality of this CD speaks for itself.
Note the cover - the very top of a human head, showing the spiral pattern that the hair is in. The underlying theme it seems to me is that there is an unseen hand at work in all creation, and though we may never know it's essence we may still catch glimpses of it in our everyday life (if you know where to look).
This music reflects a deep respect for our unseen creator (the most manifest of the manifest, and the most hidden of the hidden) .
The individual pieces are like those glimpses that we get, those moments when we can really see that we are all connected (that spiral pattern idea again)...
To say that this music is beautiful would be an understatement. It is beautiful but it also transcends ordinary beauty by giving an experience of beauty that is enhanced by listening - it fills you up, if you open yourself and let it.
Music can be a great healer - this CD is certainly a testament to that. It's simple melodies (very warm, very spare) and beats (same) make me close my eyes and smile - i am being refilled!Oh, and it is quite a lot better than Spook Tinsel Shoal, their previous effort. Dope for the Robot doesn't even come close.
I probably have more to say - but i have only heard this CD for an evening and I am at work right now and should be doing something else... but all i can say right now is that this CD will be enjoyed (by me anyway) for many years to come. If songs are like bars of soap, then these songs have the power to clean for many, many showers.
(p.s. and some songs sound like a return to the warm, melodic, Autechre that we all know and love, but bringing a new vibe - this music is inviting instead of challenging!)"