CARBON BASED LIFEFORMS: INTERLOPER (2010)
1) Interloper; 2) Right Where
It Ends; 3) Central Plain; 4) Supersede; 5) Init; 6) Euphotic; 7) Frog; 8) M;
9) 20 Minutes; 10) Polyrytmi.
I forgot to mention that, apparently, not only
are all those album covers geometrically and stylistically similar to each
other, but even the tracks run in completely continuous order: thus, ʽInterloperʼ
here is numbered 24, implying that the LP is to be understood as the third part
of a complete whole — and, as it turned out later, the last part, although there's nothing here to instinctively indicate
any sort of grand completion of one's purpose. But if The Artist tells you so,
then The Artist must be right, because there's nothing more sacred than The Original
Artistic Intention. Even the almighty gods cower and recede before the stunning
power of the OAI, so what's to be said of a simple humble reviewer?
Nevertheless, the simple humble reviewer will
try to gather all the nastiness he can muster and state that Interloper brings no surprises to the
table — it is still masterful, but it seems that the duo's grasp is weakening,
as the sonic-emotional effect of most of these tracks becomes restricted to
almost dangerous levels of subtlety. The title track features a single
delay-treated electronic loop played out against a background of stately, but
shallow-sounding Eno-esque synth tapestries: well-constructed, I admit, but so
effortlessly sliding through the senses that I cannot, for the life of me,
visualize it or emotionally experience it in any way. Not too pretty, not too
ugly, and not even representative of an exciting parallel universe. I mean, if those were the sounds of a parallel
universe, I might consider settling there (it's always a good perspective to
settle down in a place where "nothing ever happens"), but go there as
a tourist? No way.
The only track where something does happen is ʽRight Where It Endsʼ,
with its more sharply expressed trip-hop rhythms, acid keyboard lines, and evil
whispers. Incidentally, fans of the album often complain of this very track as
disrupting the flow — I understand them perfectly, but the complaint can only
register if you are really taken in by the flow; if you don't think the flow's
too cool, then a little bit of disruption is actually good for the health. At
least there's a definite feel of suspense and concealed danger here, and that's
a good thing, because what's a parallel universe, really, if it's all safer
than a mother's womb?
Everything else, well... my biggest beef is
that it's way too long and way too even. The best masters of ambient, like it
or not, still have ways to shift the mood from track to track, or at least to
capitalize on a few brilliantly selected chord sequences. On Interloper, tones and overdub
structures matter far more than chord sequences, and when there are discernible chord sequences, they
sound way too much like adult contemporary (for instance, the melody of ʽ20
Minutesʼ could have very easily be encountered on a Phil Collins solo album,
although he'd never bother to wrap it up in so many additional layers, of
course). Or, when they hit upon a good one, they can spoil the moment with a
totally unnecessary and generic percussion track (ʽInitʼ, which starts out
beautifully, but do they really want us to slow-dance to it or what?).
With repeated listens, you can probably get
used to the softness of it all, and, most importantly, Interloper preserves the warm human spirit that has always
characterized CBL, but I have to confess that I thought better of them when
they were drawing their influences in about equal measures from Eno, Tangerine
Dream, and Floyd, than now, when they seem to be so much concentrated on
«light» rather than «darkness» — because light always shines brightest in contrast
with darkness; and these guys are good, but not good enough to become absolute
Gods of Light — the more they try to be, the more boring the results become.
So, not a thumbs down, but definitely a step
down from the quality of the previous two albums, although I think we really
saw it coming (with music like this, holding on to an exciting standard for
very long is downright impossible — not even a musical genius like Eno could
boast a decade-long uninterrupted career of ambient masterpieces).
I guess we have a different take on this album.
ReplyDeleteI felt the 123 punch of Interloper, Right Where It Ends, and Central Plains almost a overall summary of all the catchy twists and turns I initially started discovering listening to Hydroponic Garden and fell in love with which makes the first side of this album somewhat memorable and a "point of entry" you might say for this band... in my opinion of course.
Anyway, the overall impact of these three albums Hydroponic Garden, World Of Sleepers and Interloper is very positive in my book and some crazy good ambient music to turn people on to to say the least. I find myself revisiting these albums over and over which is not something I can say for a boat load of Eno's work let me tell you but that's just me.
Regarding the covers: these albums were all issued on Ultimae records, which (like ECM, for example) has its own design aesthetic--that, and not the thematic connections between albums themselves accounts for the similarities of appearance, most likely.
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