802t starts off electro style, perhaps, noting the comments on ordering, this wasn't the best track to start with. It seems to be missing a point almost. Beneath starts more promisingly and the structure of the melody is better. I'm hoping the comment about the first track setting the tone isn't the case. Capsule was miles more interesting, quite a challenging effect was added (I'm not technically adept) and it stretches brokenkites legs a bit and I think the listeners' ear/brain/mind/etc. Very daring, I'm suitably impressed!-) A risk I think was taken here and, for me, it's the selling point of electro but in cultural terms, stretching the boundaries and experimenting. To do it boldly, all the better.
Departure reverts to a more traditional instrument, but one nonetheless powerful potentially. I liked it and the previous track seems like a dream, it's a complete stretch to what is more readily accessible. It's therapeutic, although I would have liked something a bit more adventurous. Elim puts us back into teknoland... good buzz and rhythm, nice deepness to it and the synth layer over the top is ok, but it's got a lot to live up to now!-) This is more the kind of inner-track diversity that I would have liked to have heard in Departure, with just the piano, though it was nice enough.
Emergence II and we return to the piano, a more interesting flourish this time. Refreshing. EMP is quite stern to start with, back into electro mode, and slowly paced. It seems to be an interesting attempt at ambient, it's certainly relaxing but with a bit of discomfort with it too. Curious mix. Flashback rocks and shows more diversity with style, fusing quite nicely with the techno side, in fact I think the techno is what makes it worth a listen. A nice deep melody emerges about half way and really fills it out well. So, for me that's proof of skill to diversify by track, within track and also be traditional in places as well, but with having to do it well.
Hidden, slightly barren, slightly morose atmosphere with a ring of slight mental derangement weaved in and out. Hidden is a four minute implication of many things that mean many things to many people, it's a moment of reflection. Impulse has a mechanical ring to its apparent minimalism, I love it already thirty seconds in! It's like a little experiment in industrialism, that went right. Mintaka, the next track, has a nice ambience to it, again nice fusion well done. Nice, timely additions to the layers of sound and rhythm, cool little crescendo.
Niflheim rings out, and chimes it's way in. Deep and mysterious. Slowly paced building into a well layered track. It is very good for a listener to find a change to be just what they were hoping for. Pages, very technoid to start, slightly dark, with lovely growling synth additions and later, lighter flourishes of technological sound. Panacea, I hated the drum beat, but the booming bass made it bearable. A chilled, piano led, piece of mellow cyborg music. Capsule is still my favourite!
Precursor (maybe this should have been the first track?-) is a wickedly sounding piece of technical wizardry and mixed with a simple piano melody, which grounds it and stops it sounding like a spaceship with communication problems. Loved it!-) Reluctance, nice and easy, booming booms and slippery slithers, like in indescisive snake. An easy one to digest! Sleep comes next. Seems like quite an interesting approach to building up, apart from the fact that it is, it just depends what is done in the meantime. In this case a bold synthetic solution. As it happens, I quite liked this one. Spark leads us out, with a mid-paced, synth-based tune. A sort of urgent burbling sense to it keeps it moving, although I think I would have liked a sharper edge to it, and some of that nice variation that brokenkites is capable of.
Keep the faith!-)
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