Rubens Review In UK Music Search
http://www.ukmusicsearch.co.uk/reviews/rubens-carnivalesque.html
review by Mike Bond
RUBENS - CARNIVALESQUE
"CARNIVALESQUE is an album that plays out with sublime majesty and class, a moody and atmospheric record that sets out to take you on a journey, dropping you off at a place you may not be expecting but will be glad you've reached."
Track Listing > >
Vertical Hold / Breaking Into Smile / Giraffe / Bank Holiday / Ferris Wheel / Puggies / Cayla's Third / Blue Belles Burn Slowly / Winter Broth / After Now Is Next HERB RECORDINGS
Recalling the restrained atmospherics and moody ambience of artists like Harold Budd, Brian Eno and Labradford; Rubens sculpt atmospheric ambient soundscapes from the starkest of arrangements and subtlest of nuances. Their album CARNIVALESQUE is more an aural journey than your conventional song based record; each track acting as a continuation of the next, moving you slowly forward through a mood driven and exotic musical landscape.
The opening track VERTICAL HOLD sets a tone that permeates the rest of the record, layers of sound building building upon one another over subtle beats, gentle synth textures creating a mood that soothes as much as it unsettles; this is a hypnotic and dreamlike musical landscape which nods towards the dark and menacing at times, albeit dark and menacing from a safe distance. At times resembling Sigur Ros without the heartbreaking intensity and tear-jerking mood swings, Rubens are a more settled experience - their music acting more towards languidity.
The swirling electronica of BREAKING INTO SMILE recalls the twisted genius of the Boards Of Canada in its woozy trancelike musicality and lo-fi cinematic grace whilst the subdued GIRAFFE feels more like the textural ambience of Harold Budd or Brian Eno. The epic FERRIS WHEEL is a ten minute excursion into moody electronica, Rubens building sounds and textures that gradually climax into a sublime and intoxicating sonic payoff. The cold techno of PUGGIES has certain echoes of Orbital in its clinical blips and bleeps whilst the atmospheric BLUE BELLES BURN SLOWLY gets back down to moody ambience and subtle nuances of texture and sound. The sublime WINTER BROTH finds Rubens continuing to lay on the atmospherics with another slice of cold electronica whilst closing number AFTER NOW IS NEXT ends things with a hushed sense of beauty and stillness, a fitting close to a record that regularly dabbles with the sublime.
CARNIVALESQUE is an album that plays out with sublime majesty and class, a moody and atmospheric record that sets out to take you on a journey, dropping you off at a place you may not be expecting but will be glad you've reached.
BIOGRAPHY
CARNIVALESQUE is the long awaited and hotly anticipated debut album from Scottish electronic duo, Rubens. Since signing to Herb Recordings label in early 2006, Mark Flanagan and Gordon MacDermid have been quietly forging their unique and contemporary brand of melodic electronics and have emerged with a highly polished gem of a debut full-length. With 10 tracks spanning just under an hour, CARNIVALESQUE is a finely balanced blend of head-nodding melodies, taking the listener on an emotional rollercoaster ride from the opening chords of the acoustic guitar-laden VERTICAL HOLD through to the simply beautiful conclusion that is AFTER NOW IS NEXT.
Skilfully crafting together both acoustic and electronic percussion before infusing with uptempo synth melodies along side more dulcet, and sombre layers of sound, Rubens have put together an album that is both genuinely refreshing and immediately accessible. Drawing upon their collective and often shared taste in music, the Rubens sound comes from a blend of their contemporary influences (Autechre, Boards Of Canada, Caribou to name but a few), with their often intricate and emotional style of music.
LINE UP
Mark Flanagan
Gordon MacDermid
DISCOGRAPHY
CARNIVALESQUE (Herb Recordings>2007)
Vertical Hold
Breaking Into Smile
Giraffe
Bank Holiday
Ferris Wheel
Puggies
Cayla's Third
Blue Belles Burn Slowly
Winter Broth
After Now Is Next
LINKS
Herb Recordings>www.herbrecordings.com
FURTHER LISTENING
Boards Of Canada
Autechre
Harold Budd
Review date: May 2007
review by Mike Bond
RUBENS - CARNIVALESQUE
"CARNIVALESQUE is an album that plays out with sublime majesty and class, a moody and atmospheric record that sets out to take you on a journey, dropping you off at a place you may not be expecting but will be glad you've reached."
Track Listing > >
Vertical Hold / Breaking Into Smile / Giraffe / Bank Holiday / Ferris Wheel / Puggies / Cayla's Third / Blue Belles Burn Slowly / Winter Broth / After Now Is Next HERB RECORDINGS
Recalling the restrained atmospherics and moody ambience of artists like Harold Budd, Brian Eno and Labradford; Rubens sculpt atmospheric ambient soundscapes from the starkest of arrangements and subtlest of nuances. Their album CARNIVALESQUE is more an aural journey than your conventional song based record; each track acting as a continuation of the next, moving you slowly forward through a mood driven and exotic musical landscape.
The opening track VERTICAL HOLD sets a tone that permeates the rest of the record, layers of sound building building upon one another over subtle beats, gentle synth textures creating a mood that soothes as much as it unsettles; this is a hypnotic and dreamlike musical landscape which nods towards the dark and menacing at times, albeit dark and menacing from a safe distance. At times resembling Sigur Ros without the heartbreaking intensity and tear-jerking mood swings, Rubens are a more settled experience - their music acting more towards languidity.
The swirling electronica of BREAKING INTO SMILE recalls the twisted genius of the Boards Of Canada in its woozy trancelike musicality and lo-fi cinematic grace whilst the subdued GIRAFFE feels more like the textural ambience of Harold Budd or Brian Eno. The epic FERRIS WHEEL is a ten minute excursion into moody electronica, Rubens building sounds and textures that gradually climax into a sublime and intoxicating sonic payoff. The cold techno of PUGGIES has certain echoes of Orbital in its clinical blips and bleeps whilst the atmospheric BLUE BELLES BURN SLOWLY gets back down to moody ambience and subtle nuances of texture and sound. The sublime WINTER BROTH finds Rubens continuing to lay on the atmospherics with another slice of cold electronica whilst closing number AFTER NOW IS NEXT ends things with a hushed sense of beauty and stillness, a fitting close to a record that regularly dabbles with the sublime.
CARNIVALESQUE is an album that plays out with sublime majesty and class, a moody and atmospheric record that sets out to take you on a journey, dropping you off at a place you may not be expecting but will be glad you've reached.
BIOGRAPHY
CARNIVALESQUE is the long awaited and hotly anticipated debut album from Scottish electronic duo, Rubens. Since signing to Herb Recordings label in early 2006, Mark Flanagan and Gordon MacDermid have been quietly forging their unique and contemporary brand of melodic electronics and have emerged with a highly polished gem of a debut full-length. With 10 tracks spanning just under an hour, CARNIVALESQUE is a finely balanced blend of head-nodding melodies, taking the listener on an emotional rollercoaster ride from the opening chords of the acoustic guitar-laden VERTICAL HOLD through to the simply beautiful conclusion that is AFTER NOW IS NEXT.
Skilfully crafting together both acoustic and electronic percussion before infusing with uptempo synth melodies along side more dulcet, and sombre layers of sound, Rubens have put together an album that is both genuinely refreshing and immediately accessible. Drawing upon their collective and often shared taste in music, the Rubens sound comes from a blend of their contemporary influences (Autechre, Boards Of Canada, Caribou to name but a few), with their often intricate and emotional style of music.
LINE UP
Mark Flanagan
Gordon MacDermid
DISCOGRAPHY
CARNIVALESQUE (Herb Recordings>2007)
Vertical Hold
Breaking Into Smile
Giraffe
Bank Holiday
Ferris Wheel
Puggies
Cayla's Third
Blue Belles Burn Slowly
Winter Broth
After Now Is Next
LINKS
Herb Recordings>www.herbrecordings.com
FURTHER LISTENING
Boards Of Canada
Autechre
Harold Budd
Review date: May 2007
posted by cm1974 at 2:07 AM
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