September Album Pick: Balam Acab - Wander/Wonder
Tri Angle - Out Now
Some artists become victims of their own hype - the most recent example being Lana Del Ray who’s backlash was indeed inevitable, all the same it came at unprecedented speed (as documented by Breaking More Waves). Sometimes it’s not artists but entire genres that become entangled in a barrage of snapping criticism on the blogosphere/twittersphere - like chillwave, or witch house. It’s funny to think that Balam Acab was at one stage at the forefront of the generally broad witch house scene, with his dark, brooding electronic music accompanying the sound of cold, claustrophobic, dead night.
Right now, he’s positively golden, standing atop a flawless release schedule from Tri Angle Records, amongst Holy Other and other innovative, forward-thinking artists. Someone he’s avoided the backlash and the subsequent near-downfall, with ‘Wander/Wonder’ marking the beginning of an illustrious career.
If the ‘See Birds’ EP represented a trance-like, immersive listening experience, the debut full-length takes it that one step further. Every gadget’s on-switch that flickers next to you; every gap of natural light easing through the curtains - these need to be curtailed and ignored for 45 minutes. ‘Wander/Wonder’ is the sole thing you’re having to concentrate on. In an album full of intense highs, the most startling come in the form of ‘Motion”s string-samples breaking through, the pure sweetness of ‘Now Time”s manipulated vocal samples and the sound of water dripping through the cracks on closer ‘Fragile Hope’. Every produced element is mastered to a T; every outside calculation - from the artwork to the song titles - is also collaborative with the album’s sound and feel. It’s almost as if Alec Koone shut himself off completely from the hype and the talk, to make this album as refined and as to-plan as possible. In homage and conjunction, it’s also the listener’s task to shut themselves off to every inch of surrounding, in order to enjoy this record to the fullest. [JM]
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