Pentatonik: A Thousand Paper Cranes
Pentatonik: A Thousand Paper Cranes
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Thursday, 03, Sep 2009 10:25
Hydrogen Dukebox, out now.
In a nutshell...
A perfect alternative soundtrack to Planet Earth.
What's it all about?
Pentatonik's main aim with this album is to build on the previous offering, The Five Angels, and develop the "melodic compositions, vocal hooks and intricate self-portraits" that he forged a long time ago.
Who's it by?
Simeon Bowring already has a Bafta to his name after producing the award-winning Crackdown video game soundtrack, and it's not hard to see why. Having meddled with the work of Blondie, Groove Armada and the Lightning Seeds to get that little bit more out of their releases, he's finally gone back to his own style. His band A1 People have also released three albums, making this one busy man.
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Pentatonik's ability to harness synthesisers, piano and orchestral tones so consistently well over long tracks makes this release a stepping stone to a much bigger career in the soundtrack industry, at least.
What the others say
"A Thousand Paper Cranes is an impressive piece of work, and may open the door for even more adventurous compositions that blur the boundaries between ambient electronica and classical music."- musicOMH
So is it any good?
As soon as you listen to the opening track, the wonderfully subdued Aquamarine, you struggle to truly nail down its influences. There are hints of Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack, a little bit of Nobuo Uematsu's Final Fantasy soundtracks, slight references to Carter Burwell's approach to film music and a lot of Japanese tranquillity.
While this sounds horribly like a Pseud's Corner quote, it really is hard to place it as anything but.
Throughout the album, there is never anything that seems unwelcome to the ears. True, if you're not a fan of classical music or electronica, you'll perhaps not get much from this release, yet it's still worth a try. Trust me.
It may be generally chilled out, yet it's not background music - it can be so much more. It's got more meat on its bones than the recent Riceboy Sleeps effort, yet it has too much grace and classical beauty to compare it to more upbeat offerings from modern-day artists in the charts.
What's more, it's genuinely hard to think anyone will dislike it. After all, such music shapes our experience of TV, film, games and other media when it's used in the right context. This can go beyond. Try popping it on your MP3 player, for example; you'll find it even shapes your walk to work, your understanding of the weather, anything.
That's because its influence over emotions is, in certain parts, remarkable. Desert Fall has a Harry Potter-esque charm in its approach, while Night Raid On London is so addictively disconcerting with its off-tune melody - one which remains a melody throughout, instead of becoming a simple or lazy distortion.
Meanwhile, Desert Fall takes to the aforementioned world of Blade Runner as it hits its peak in the latter third, while By The Sword makes you feel like you're a 1970s Lawrence of Arabia. Everything sets a scene, but scenes you'll easily get lost in.
Not all the tracks hit the mark. The title track A Thousand Paper Cranes is a little disappointing, especially as it appears much later after appreciating the other offerings beforehand. The Rush of You, however, while capturing the essence of the song's name, somehow doesn't fit on the album either. Still, it's something you'll be willing to forgive. Or fall in love with, of course, as the basic piano work still gives it some merit.
Bowring's aim is to continue his unique brand of "intelligent and emotive electronic music". His people gleefully remind us that "his new album builds upon this musical legacy with tremendous impact". They're not fawning over him or overly promoting him, either - it's well-justified. In a perfect world, he probably wouldn't need any promotion.
9/10
Matt Gardner