Daddy Tank, Part 5 - The Dream [DTDs51]
31 July, 2013
Hold your breath, kids – we’re diving back down into Daddy Tank. In fact, you’d best strap on an oxygen tank, because today I’m delving into Dissolved. And I’m completely submerged. This is electronica, folks, but not of this world – the work of Dissolved employs sounds of surreal origins, decayed and warped synths salvaged from the depths of Atlantis, countered by precise beats. “Hypnotic” is an understatement, and “atmospheric” hardy conveys the power this stuff has over my mind – after listening and re-listening and re-listening again to the latest two Dissolved albums, I’ve convinced myself that I need his entire discography (which, by the by, totals to about 50 LPs/EPs).
Very early this year, Dissolved dropped his fourth album for Daddy Tank, Surge of the Lucid. And my word, what a trip it is. Throughout, I do feel like I’m navigating through one vivid, mighty dream – and not, mind you, the “dream” hackneyed in common speech. No, actual dreams, the ones that transport me through fantastic worlds that I cannot name, and compel me to do things that are otherwise impossible.
The first two minutes alone should plunge you deep, deep into this sunken realm – the low, swelling undulation in “Heart of the Well” conveys all the might and depth of the watery abyss. From here we launch into the album properly, with “Your Age in Shark Years”, a declarative tune that’s bathed in light yet crackling with unknown voices and thick flurries of beats. “Selmantrasm” dives deeper, a woozy force of wavering synths punctured with clinical rhythm, with a melody as memorable as it is ethereal.
But, ah, “Forgotten Processes”. Darkness – a dark room, actually. It’s the only track with “lyrics” on Surge of the Lucid, but fuuuuuuck are they lyrics. We learn of a dark room technician who becomes so engrossed in her job that she neglects everything else, including her own sanity, to conduct her experiments…and, in the process, we become engrossed ourselves in the murky, acidic beat. “My DNA is redeveloping to incorporate the pictures I am manipulating.” This mutation isn’t just happening to the protagonist of the song, y’know.
Time and life itself freeze in “Lenslock”, a suspended glaze of sound, harrowing in its sparse and strained sustains. You feel locked, indeed, in a chamber of glittering ice – which, upon exploration, you realize contains no exit. We return, however, to electric and melodic territory in “Stickleback Red”, a number that remains awash in a dream-like glow, but beeps and blips with bustling energy. “Machinery in Sea Water” is a more subdued hustle, a dim scene on the ocean floor seething with buzzes. But ohhhhh, “Ski Run In The Distance”. This one tricks into believing that we’ve finally found a place of respite, a moment of respite on a snowy clearing with breezy guitar twangs. Then the weight of the world descends upon us, in all its synthesized grandeur, and a hesitant beat trips behind. Steadily it grows, until a blizzard of activity piles around us.
The true journey begins, though, with “On Board The Deuterium Arc”. This 12-minute tour de force, driven by a mesmerizing hum, winds through starry synths, frantic beats, and chilling melodies, each falling and emerging in equal measure. Where that forced voice hails from, I cannot fathom – a lost ghoul stranded on the ship, perhaps, warning us of “drums, bass” and “the DJ” – but she is too late, her words are unheeded, and we proceed further and further into deeper, darker, and more troubled territory, until the whole track begins to unravel into oblivion.
Honestly, folks, the suggestive power of this album is staggering. If you haven’t heard any Dissolved before, now’s the time to begin – I guarantee you’ll be immersed in its subterranean depths. And if this review can’t convince you to give Surge of the Lucid a whirl, try Telemetry Embers first, an enigmatic EP available on the Free Music Archives. (That’s right – it’s FREE.) That’ll entrance ya. Once you’re sold, head over to Daddy Tank’s website to order Surge – the CD comes with this gorgeous holographic sticker (displayed here on my journal, which is now 10x more mysterious thanks to its presence).
Very early this year, Dissolved dropped his fourth album for Daddy Tank, Surge of the Lucid. And my word, what a trip it is. Throughout, I do feel like I’m navigating through one vivid, mighty dream – and not, mind you, the “dream” hackneyed in common speech. No, actual dreams, the ones that transport me through fantastic worlds that I cannot name, and compel me to do things that are otherwise impossible.
The first two minutes alone should plunge you deep, deep into this sunken realm – the low, swelling undulation in “Heart of the Well” conveys all the might and depth of the watery abyss. From here we launch into the album properly, with “Your Age in Shark Years”, a declarative tune that’s bathed in light yet crackling with unknown voices and thick flurries of beats. “Selmantrasm” dives deeper, a woozy force of wavering synths punctured with clinical rhythm, with a melody as memorable as it is ethereal.
But, ah, “Forgotten Processes”. Darkness – a dark room, actually. It’s the only track with “lyrics” on Surge of the Lucid, but fuuuuuuck are they lyrics. We learn of a dark room technician who becomes so engrossed in her job that she neglects everything else, including her own sanity, to conduct her experiments…and, in the process, we become engrossed ourselves in the murky, acidic beat. “My DNA is redeveloping to incorporate the pictures I am manipulating.” This mutation isn’t just happening to the protagonist of the song, y’know.
Time and life itself freeze in “Lenslock”, a suspended glaze of sound, harrowing in its sparse and strained sustains. You feel locked, indeed, in a chamber of glittering ice – which, upon exploration, you realize contains no exit. We return, however, to electric and melodic territory in “Stickleback Red”, a number that remains awash in a dream-like glow, but beeps and blips with bustling energy. “Machinery in Sea Water” is a more subdued hustle, a dim scene on the ocean floor seething with buzzes. But ohhhhh, “Ski Run In The Distance”. This one tricks into believing that we’ve finally found a place of respite, a moment of respite on a snowy clearing with breezy guitar twangs. Then the weight of the world descends upon us, in all its synthesized grandeur, and a hesitant beat trips behind. Steadily it grows, until a blizzard of activity piles around us.
The true journey begins, though, with “On Board The Deuterium Arc”. This 12-minute tour de force, driven by a mesmerizing hum, winds through starry synths, frantic beats, and chilling melodies, each falling and emerging in equal measure. Where that forced voice hails from, I cannot fathom – a lost ghoul stranded on the ship, perhaps, warning us of “drums, bass” and “the DJ” – but she is too late, her words are unheeded, and we proceed further and further into deeper, darker, and more troubled territory, until the whole track begins to unravel into oblivion.
Honestly, folks, the suggestive power of this album is staggering. If you haven’t heard any Dissolved before, now’s the time to begin – I guarantee you’ll be immersed in its subterranean depths. And if this review can’t convince you to give Surge of the Lucid a whirl, try Telemetry Embers first, an enigmatic EP available on the Free Music Archives. (That’s right – it’s FREE.) That’ll entrance ya. Once you’re sold, head over to Daddy Tank’s website to order Surge – the CD comes with this gorgeous holographic sticker (displayed here on my journal, which is now 10x more mysterious thanks to its presence).
