(2019) Billow Observatory – III: Chroma/Contour  


Review:
…this third dispatch from trans-Atlantic collaborators Jason Kolb, based in Detroit, Michigan and otherwise known as Auburn Lull, and Denmark native Jonas Munk, whose output as Manual and as a Causa Sui member is well-documented, could pass for a historical overview of different electronic music-related genres from the past half-century. Elements of krautrock, kosmische musik, and ambient surface during the album’s nine tracks, all realized with the kind of expertise that comes from a collaboration now into its thirteenth year. Don’t be surprised if at different moments memories of material by Klaus Schulze, (early) Kraftwerk, Popul Vuh, and Stars of the Lid come to mind as III: Chroma/Contour fills the room. There’s no better example of the recording’s expansive scope than the opener “Serriform,” which at ten minutes is twice as long as most of the others. Somewhat of a minimalism exercise, the setting patiently grows from a stark, pulsating intro into a chiming kosmische meditation with no small amount of serene ambient character built into it. Understated reveries such as “Soft Logic” and “Memory Resonance” sneak up, disarming you with their melancholic beauty and seductive aura. On the prettier tip is “Iris,” a gauzy ambient piece drenched in synthetic haze and guitar strums. Guitars, analog synths, and voices are apparently some of the sources the duo used to generate the material, though all such sounds were radically mutated by samplers, computer software, and a broken dictaphone before reaching their destination. Conventional metres are largely eschewed in favour of ambient soundscapes that despite their modest duration suggest limitless expanses. One exception to that rule is “Trumbull,” a buoyant exercise that undergirds Manual-styled guitar figures with electronic flutter that by repeating assumes the form of a rhythm foundation. Munk’s Manual persona also comes to the fore during “Lidless Path” when reverberant guitar shadings billow alongside ever-swirling clouds of vaporous smear.


         


Track List:
01 - Serriform
02 - Color in the Six
03 - Lidless Path
04 - Iris
05 - Trumbull
06 - Light By a Thread
07 - Soft Logic
08 - Bright Lands Rising
09 - Memory Resonance


Media Report:
Genre: ambient, electronic
Country: Dennark / USA
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


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