Wave World
Species
‘The Quest’ acts as the introduction to this album. Grandiose sweeping synths, and stylised vocals in both spoken and song forms. Well put together with a professional air, it does bode well for the rest of the album. The 8 and a half minute ‘Urban distance’ then takes over with chunky rhythmics, layers of noises and effects, and a meandering yet coherent lead synth weaving its way through proceedings. ‘Trance Planet’ is a driftier affair with elongated vocal synths and spoken effects akin to the opener. Again the rhythms bring to mind a jungle scene, with the odd booming drum demonstrating an underlying Vangelis trait. ‘Momentum’ portrays a wind swept desolate planet as a hint of uptempo synthetics raises its head before being submerged into an electronic sea. Latterly a laid back section of well pitched sequences and a delightful lead synth serves notice that there is potential in abundance here.

‘Talk to Me’ features female vocals against an electronic backdrop. It’s very thought provoking but the mind does begin to wonder if and when this album will really show its hand. ‘El Nino’, at 12:34 the longest piece, is again heavy on the effects and atmospherics. There’s lots of detail and many angles are explored hence fans of the more thoughtful EM art will find much to endear. ‘Life’s Orchestra’ again makes use of sampled voice as textural synth pads, quite a feature of the album and implemented with a fair degree of success. A very laid back rhythm then comes to the fore, so slow that it does sound like it’s being played at half speed and eventually much prodding of the ff button was the order of the day. ‘The Chain’ ends the album again with heavy atmospherics and many subliminal corridors to chart, and the lead synth work confirms that when required Wave World can tickle the ivories with the best of them.

This is a very laid back and thoughtful affair and contains much to admire in the atmospheric and textural stakes. With so much competition in the EM scene concepts such as this, which do mandate a certain amount of effort on the part of the listener to really reveal the true credentials of the music, bring much needed variety and deserve praise. That’s why I’m disappointed that I can’t praise it more, because ultimately despite many plays it simply hasn’t sparked enough interest. (GG)

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