Carbon Based Lifeforms – Twentythree

English / Polish version

Carbon Based Lifeforms - Twentythree
    ULTIMAE RECORDS
    Carbon Based Lifeforms
    Twentythree
    2011

      1. Arecibo
      2. System
      3. Somewhere in Russia
      4. Terpene
      5. Inertia
      6. VLA (edit)
      7. Kensington Gardens
      8. Held together by gravity

______________________________

Flights into the space for 11 euros!

Boom!

Well we have seen it done. Another album from Swedish duo, which consists of Johannes Hedberg and Daniel Ringstrom (known more as Carbon Based Lifeforms) finally fell into my hands. I have known from the outset that it would be good, besides I am also sure for further productions of Swedes who did not accustom us to average or just good albums. This time, it could not be otherwise.

TWENTYTHREE is the fourth album of the group CBL. This album is different from all that have been released so far. It is a completely new style, there is a lack of tracks which have an outlined rate to which the Swedes have managed to accustom us. This is a typically ambient journey, at times reminding me of the legends of this genre, such as projects: Biosphere, Pete Namlock or Brian Eno. Here is also the lack of a characteristic melodic line, which is replaced by some audio spots which are deep, hypnotic and lead to a real trance lethargy. Some long, almost endless plays with the color and intensity of the sound work excellently here. Ladies and Gentlemen, Carbon Based Lifeforms, that you have not known before, present just the new, truly excellent, ambient production, which will carry you through the Milky Way far beyond our galaxy. A combination of music and some images they paint somewhere on the border of our consciousness, let us fly into a realm of some atmospheric, emotional, top experiences, which certainly we will not miss while listening to TWENTYTHREE. The album definitely helps us to reflect, it let us forget about everyday, ‘important matters’, break away from the surrounding reality. And even though the return turns out to be a challenge, I really encourage you all to take advantage of this journey into yourselves which lasts tens of minutes.
How do they do that? How can you make and release an album, which is without a beat, and can be so euphoric in the perception? It is not a trick to create something with rhythmic rate four on four, set the pace oscillating within the limits of 130-145 beats per minute and move the crowd. It always works. The trick is what Johannes Hedberg and Daniel Ringstrom did and show in the album TWENTYTHREE. They just melt the listener, setting his neurons in a perpetual whirl, show the world which until now was known only from a visit in a planetarium or a series of films in the Discovery Channel. This time, you can try it yourselves, with no boosters, no impulses from the outside. It works everywhere – outdoors, just before falling asleep, in a hot sunny day, and during a storm crackling with lightnings on every side of the world. I assure you that the so-called ‘set and settings’ in this case can be selected by random-hit – it will always work.

Eight tracks not coincidentally arranged in that order build a long story, in which every sound seems to be exactly in its place, and each tone ‘falls’ in the perfectly chosen moment in time. It all starts in the ARECIBO observatory, where we can admire the changes of the celestial bodies on the overwhelming sky. SYSTEM works perfectly. SOMEWHERE IN RUSSIA is a nice reminiscence of the previous albums – those who have listened to the work of CBL, certainly know what I mean. For sure, the title INERTIA is also not accidental, because I experience it every time I listen to that track. TERPENE decomposes me into the atoms in a way that I am hardly able to go to another observatory, this time VERY LARGE ARRAY in New Mexico (wow, here is happening a lot!). At the end there is a walk in the lovely, but very mysterious parts of KENSINGTON GARDENS in London, where unfortunately the gravity starts to work again. It is time to go back.

Carbon Based Lifeforms in the ambient version? When it comes to me, I give them a big plus, especially for going out of the borders chosen before (three previous albums, although as perfect as the one I have just described, however were similar to each other, this one is completely different) – a change of so recognizable style, which was made up by the guys from CBL, required a lot of courage. We all know some artists who release the tenth consecutive album that sounds exactly the same as the other, right?
Once again a great nod to you and good work, guys.

______________________________

8 / 10
Marion