Monday, 3 August 2020

Kukan Dub Lagan 'Searching for the Fogbow' Review







Artist: Kukan Dub Lagan




Title: Searching for a Fogbow




Label: Mikelabella Records




Released: 4th July 2020








This release has been available for a month now. However, it has been a fare number of years since I’ve heard any of KDL’s productions and I’m pretty impressed with this album. Itay Berger the man behind the project goes to great lengths with eloquent words to explain what a fogbow is and how hard it is to find one, how he is using this as a parallel for ourselves seeking answers in our own existences. That’s all well and good but that is not what impressed me.


What strikes me about this album is the expression in the moods of the tracks. Yes this is chillout. However, like a great movie soundtrack, you can sense not only the calm and joy you would expect from this genre but also elements of dark foreboding almost menacing passages within that carry you through a journey.


From the opening number ‘A Cloud of Candyfloss’ that combines peaceful calm synth voices with thunderous samples and pitch bending chimes. Which sends a slight ripple through the sense of calm yet works in perfect unison. These juxtaposed themes continue in the following number ‘Culture of Extramundane Creatures’, where waves and indistinct voices conjure up visions of fun of the beach set against dark dramatic bass chords and melodic piano. Whilst ‘Surfeit of Happiness and Agony’ blends sci-fi’esque ambient synths with heavy tribal drums. The title track is a more laid back peaceful number then halfway through the cello adds a touch of sadness and foreboding.


My conclusion is this gripped me more so than a lot of the chill out music I have listened to of late. Which in turn has set me in mind to re-discover and dig deeper into the Kukan Dub Lagan back catalogue.


Reviewed by Woodzee


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