(2020) Markus Floats - Third Album


Review:
With his lively blips and pleasing, resolute drones, Third Album by Markus Floats, a.k.a. Montreal composer Markus Lake, conveys a sense of determination and urgency while maintaining a meditative quality. This narrative is firstly presented  by the song titles themselves, which remind us that life is rather linear and there is no other option than to keep moving ‘Forward’ ‘And’ ‘Forward Again’ ‘Always’ ‘Moving’ ‘Forward Always.’ The listening experience requires intense concentration and relaxed meditation to fully appreciate. The compositions decidedly hold one’s gaze with their densely layered, well-produced drones, organic samples and clean electronic arpeggios. It’s as if each piece could be easily stretched out into subtle, 20-minute epics, but are instead condensed into a six-track, 33-minute album. Still, emerging beneath the pace of the changing structures, there is a focus on slowing down and paying attention to the little things. The refined shifts in pitch, unwavering additions of electronic particles and evolving transformations of textures act as metaphors for a wider gaze on our existence while life attempts to hurry past us. The album is perfectly suited for restless observation. It’s like watching a sped-up time lapse of the tides, or nature evolving rapidly before our very eyes. The message is simple — “Forward Always,” but pay close attention to the ever-changing moment.





Tracklist:



Media Report:
Genre: ambient, electronic
Source: CD
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits