Fixionrelease date: September 16, 2016
format: digital (13 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]
producer: Anders Trentemøller
label: In My Room - nationality: Denmark
Track highlights: 1. "One Eye Open" (feat. Marie Fisker) - 2. "Never Fade" - 4. "River in Me" (feat. Jehnny Beth) - 6. "Redefine" - 7. "My Conviction" (feat. Marie Fisker) - 11. "Complicated" (feat. Jehnny Beth) - *13. "Redefine (Trentemøller Rework)"
*Bonus track on digital album
4th studio album by Trentemøller following three years after Lost showcases the combo of Trentemøller's own stereotypical IDM microhouse progressive compositions in between more uptempo and bolder standard melody-structured and chorus-based songs with vocal arrangements made in collaboration with the two songwriters Marie Fisker and Jehnny Beth - much in the same manner as he presented with his 2013 album, only here, he has cut down on the number of featuring artists. With Beth he stood behind two single hits from this album, the almost electroclash-shaped song "River in Me" and the bolder post-punk / gothic rocker - the Siouxsie and the Banshess-like: "Complicated".
Although, the songs point in many directions - with inspiration from post-punk, from electroclash and from his catalogue of microhouse and ambient material it's still held together by a striking and predominantly coldwave soundscape. I suppose many would tend to label it darkwave and thus being inspired by gothic rock of the 1980s, but I also find it one of his better and more straightforward albums. Compared to his most recent album, this may contain stronger singles, but as a full-scaled album it lacks some of the cohency he after all demonstrated better on Lost.
A fine and yet somewhat flawed album with strong individual compositions and a lack of direction.
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[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]
