The Caretaker - An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (2011)
Artist: The Caretaker
Title: An Empty Bliss Beyond This World 1
Label: Haft Records
Year: 2011
Genre(s): Dark Ambient, Musique Concrète, Experimental
Tracklist:
01. All You're Going to Want to Do Is Get Back There
02. Moments of Sufficient Lucidity
03. The Great Hidden Sea of the Unconscious
04. Libet's Delay
05. I Feel as If I Might Be Vanishing
06. An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
07. Bedded Deep in Long Term Memory
08. A Relationship with the Sublime
09. Mental Caverns Without Sunshine
10. Pared Back to the Minimal
11. Mental Caverns Without Sunshine
12. An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
13. Tiny Gradiatrions of Loss
14. Camaraderie at Arms Length
15. The Sublime Is Disappointingly Elusive
Stream full album HERE!
There's a certain duality concerning An Empty Bliss Beyond This World. On one hand, the album title is hands down one of the most spot on we've ever seen and sets an overall template to what The Caretaker has to offer. The album is a 45 minute rollercoaster into a delicate and somewhat untapped subject, that of Alzheimer's disease's efect on human perception. The concept of the album revolves around a study published a while back by a team of researchers that discovered an amelioration of pacients' memory, concentration problems and mood, while listen to music they used to enjoy when they were healthy.
James Leyland Kirby, the man behind The Carataker, manages to create a piece of music that tries to recreate the feelings of those pacients, by masterfully sampling inter-war swing and dixieland 78s that give a blissful (no pun intended) feel while morphing into full on (dark) ambiental soundscapes at times. These samples are heavily repetitive and very raw, with their fair share of crackling and vinyl warping. This might make the little audiophile in each one of us cringe a bit, but it just adds to the whole experience and amplifies the feeling of nostalgia and distance that the record emanates.
All You Are Going to Want to Do Is Get Back There starts the album on high ground, giving a warm vibe and sounds like one of those songs you'd associate with a very dear and personal memory, cut short by the equally apt titled Moments of Sufficient Lucidity, that takes the repetitive nature of its predecessor into a comtemplative and somber view. Another track that's worth mentioning is Camaraderie at Arms Length which is a peaceful and mellow as can be track with that strong inter-war touch we've mentioned before. This is an album that both jazz and ambient lovers should click with, packed with memorable moments and a certain sense of adventure, making it certainly worth a try for a lovely late night spin.
8/10
Highlights: All You Are Going to Want to Do Is Get Back There, The Great Hidden Sea of the Unconscious, Libet's Delay, A Relationship With the Sublime, Camaraderie at Arms Length
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