this album landed on my desk by way of one of my closest friends, after a string of nonsense suggestions inlcuding ‘ABBA – GOLD’; not that that is a bad album, but why should i review perfection? what purpose would this serve? none. anyway, i dove in, eager to see what i found, hoping that i could still trust a loved one after it was all said and done.
‘worldline’ is the opening track, and i could almost see the entire album laid out in front of me. without naming names, Friend ‘A’ has a history of suggesting albums that are a lot better than he realises, information i’ve tried to hide until now. creating the landscape which we’re about to explore ‘ worldline’ welcomes you to sci-fi with a big budget, but not stuck up its own behind a la 2001.
an immediate and early standout is ‘privilege escalation’, it takes me back to my first viewing of ‘drive’. i’m watching ryan gosling look incredible, saying nothing but doing everything to drive me wild. the drums tick over, and you will immediately match your stride. it’s infectious, egoless and accessible synth-pop, which is quite rare i have come to find. ‘A’ has always been a fan of the integration of bells into music, i am slowly becoming a fan.
i’ve now just realised i’ve been listening to the album on shuffle. this is a new low. ‘privilege escalation’ is actually one of the last tracks. and looking back, the track-list is no longer egoless, it’s like a stupid wee nerd bought a thesaurus. ‘gaussian’ is the third track and it immediately annoys me. maybe i’m still annoyed at myself for the shuffle mistake, but who am i to say? a man? no ?
the world created in the first few tracks is magical, mythical and seemingly endless, but i’m quickly finding that most were created using the same synth pack and i’m somewhat bored, stopping myself from putting on Kavinsky and increasing my heart rate. it’s impressive though, i do genuinely think this review is being hindered by shuffle-gate.
we end with ‘departure’, finally a normal title. fitting also as we are finally leaving this world Com has created for us. i didn’t mean ‘finally’, that seemed rude. this track feels like a countdown to your ship leaving, which is interesting and i’m now out of my slump, it has won me back.
overall the album is like a world you couldn’t really create without the music, which is something quite beautiful. i guess the problem with a concept is that you can’t really stray from it, which makes this album suffer a little bit. it reminds me of a cross between kavinsky and baths. ‘A’ says he listens to music you can’t dance to, “it needs to be listened to, not enjoyed”. Once comparing kraftwerk to beethoven, i think he’s right in that this is a labour of love, for the professionals. i’d recommend this to anyone willing to let the music tell you what to feel.
radio-cc 