Artist: Tripswitch
Title:
Memento Mori
Label:
Section Records
Released:
22nd April
In
recent years Nick Brennan has placed his focus on producing
progressive house tracks on Onedotsixtwo, which have been getting
airplay from seasoned veterans such as Nick Warren and Hernan
Catteneo. Now the focus has switched back to where he initially
carved a name for himself with twelve new downtempo tracks to be
released on Section Records, a label initially created to encompass everything
from ambient and dub to nu-disco and drum & bass.
The
Kickstarter campaign for this album got off to a flying start, confirming the interest in the slower productions of the Tripswitch
brand and I’m fortunate to have a sneak preview and a chance to
express my thoughts on the results.
We
begin with ‘Petrichor’ which begins in what I would label as
somewhat of a stereotypical Tripswitch trait of recent times, with
melodic loops and elongated dubbed out vocal stabs, but without that
four by four kick that I would associate of late. Considering I’m
setting the bar high here for the first track I’m not disappointed.
This is followed by ‘Touch Response’ where guitar strings are
plucked and delayed over an atmospheric background with choral voices
once again hitting the spot before a heavy bass chord plods
alongside. However, we now reach the point where Mr Brennan combines
with Mr Warren on ‘Last Waltz in Weirdsville’ and boy is this a
winner! It displays an orchestral atmosphere, sadly lost from the
days of trip-hop and a good peppering of fx, add the harmonica and
you can almost imagine Ennio Morricone was leaning over their
shoulder with a few tips.
Once
again I had the feeling from the intro that ‘Penumbra’ has a
distinct Tripswitch sound but it soon morphs into a different
direction with shuffling rhythms, strummed guitar and eastern flutes.
While ‘Nector’ drops the pace as mellow ambient keys are employed
over scrapes and bleeps before the guitar is added and the piece
lifts up in pace a tad. The intro that follows on ‘The Box’ is
elongated and eerie with somewhat of a movie soundtrack feel, where
at times I’m not sure if I’m being lifted out of this box or
getting trapped inside.
There’s
a touch of the classical about ‘Souvenir’ and it puts me in mind
of Vangelis with a modern twist. Whilst the approach to ‘Kauri’
initially seems to blend future garage with elements of psychedelia.
However as the piece unfolds it’s more akin to synthwave, with
beautifully crafted builds and harmonic voices. Next up is ‘The
Final Piece of the Jigsaw’ (strangely not the final track at least
on the preview) where the spacey synth sounds could easily sit in a
classic piece of Berlin School, add strings, mellow piano and angelic
vocal snippets and just float away.
The
album continues with ‘Fifty Thousand Volts’ which has a more
gritty almost industrial feel to the track before it’s juxtaposed
with a soothing piano layered over the top. A rising loop and
sweeping synths provide the intro to ‘Forever’ add some fx,
sustained piano and a bit of whoosh before it drops and slowly builds
again with some choice vocal stabs. Now we reach the final track
‘Maranasati’ which again has somewhat of a cinematic atmosphere
that filters distorted tribal vocals amongst dark and light sounds.
To
summarise this album retains certain aspects from ‘Circuit Breaker’
and ‘Geometry’ but just as they had their differences, so does
‘Memento Mori’. In some respects I’d say Nick has matured
drawing on influences as far afield as Burial and Vangelis. Now
don’t get me wrong I’ve followed the progressive house releases
and brought a fair few of them. However, this is where my heart lies
and although it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of shamanic tea, I think Nick deserves every bit of praise he gets. In these times of
mass production within the downtempo genre, with numerous styles and
variable quality for me at least this is a welcome return that oozes
quality.
Review
by Woodzee
Join
up for the Kickstarter campaign and teasers here
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tripswitch/new-tripswitch-album-memento-mori-cd-and-usb-release
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