CD, Force of Nature Productions, 2007
www.forceofnature.cc
The first thing that caught my eye while skimming the packaging for Telepherique’s “Slowmotion” is the dedication on the back, dedicating this CD to “People who try to simplify their life in modern times marked with materialism, business, stress and sickness”. A very good proclamation for someone working in the ambient field to make and as many people who fall into that trap, something like this should have a wide audience (unfortunately how many stressed, overworked, day to day people listen to ambient music?) Anyways, Telepherique has quite an impressive amount of material available (apparently almost 100 releases) so let’s see if this is for good reason…
The liner notes state that there are “4 Steps” however it is my guess that each is divided into two parts because, there are a total of 8 tracks. The album starts out with some very slow tempo percussion sounds that are accompanied by synths that come and go and refuse to stick around long enough to develop into anything but further ambiance for the song. I have to point out that the percussion in this song reminds me somewhat of Coil, maybe I’m thinking “Black Light District” or some latter period works… I’m not sure exactly why but the resemblance (for me at least) is most definitely there.
The next song starts out with a steady beat and moves a bit faster than the previous one. The electronics are more prominent in the mix and don’t seem to come and go, instead they subtly change into something new as the piece progresses. When we get to the third track, percussion has seemingly been abandoned all together; drone synths have been layered together to create a very lush and organic atmosphere and, towards the end, some sounds that might be very treated percussion bits come for awhile but not in such a way to establish any sort of beat.
The final track is the longest on the disc (clocking in at nearly 25 minutes). Without even being a minute into the song a almost “dance friendly” beat comes into the track, which along with he way the synths float around very much reminds me of the solo work of Phil Western (of Download fame). Though it may quiet itself in the mix from time to time the beat of the track is never completely lost in this piece and although the track is rather long, I think it keeps itself interesting enough to have a right to do so.
If you are looking for something for a relaxing day/night and you are one of those people who “needs a beat to their music” this is undoubtedly a worthy investment for you. This is not for the average techno/house/acid/trance/whatever fan however so if that’s what you are looking for, this probably isn’t going to add a bounce to your rave (or whatever you kids do these days). Anyways, this disc was a very enjoyable experience for myself and if Telepherique’s other output is of this high of quality, he is definitely doing something right.
[8/10]
— Charlie Martineau