release date: May 12, 2011
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,48]
producer: Robin Guthrie
label: Rocket Girl - nationality: Scotland, UK
[ full album ]
4th solo album by Robin Guthrie follows "only" 1½ years since the album Carousel (Sep. 2009), which may be a relatively normal period between albums but in the case of Guthrie, who normally has spent years in between solo albums and instead released collaboration albums and worked as producer or featuring artist this is a considerably short amount of time. And it's not that he hasn't issued other material, as he of Feb. 2011 released the collaboration album Bordeaux together with Harold Budd. Well, that album is bettering their previous efforts, although, it's still held in minimalist ambient form but they somehow managed to focus on dynamics within the narrow boundaries of their sound, and this could also easily be said about Emeralds. Guthrie doesn't surprise you with alt. rock nor with swirling distorted guitars as heard in the heydays of the Cocteau Twins. He appears to have found his stand in the corner with delay pedals, echo and chorus effects, and with sparse additional drum programming, just to add some details or diversity. And by doing so, he seems to understand the limitations his approach with ethereal and ambient new age-like style puts on his music. On his earliest albums, and his collaboration works with Harold Budd, there was this "body of sound", which had a start and an end, but where you hardly noticed where one track began and another started - it was like one piece of prolonged slow-motion jump on the moon. Now that has shifted with new angles to the jump. The single tracks stand out, although, it's still all very ethereal and almost done without other instrumentation than earlier, I pressume. But there's an overall sensation of single compositions, which I consider a quality of sorts, and perhaps it's something Guthrie has become more aware of - to make subtle changes in tempo or colour. I like to think so. At least I find his recent music and that of Emeralds to be more intriguing. As said, it's still ambient - it's even touching on new age ground, which from my general perspective isn't something you should aim for, but in this case, it works quite all right.
[ PopMatters 3 / 5 stars ]
