Only Mountain by Take
LABEL: Alpha Pup Records
If the realm of dub-infused electronic music was already an abstract enough space before, Take’s Only Mountain has just brought it into the great beyond and placed those sounds before the altar of the future. Much more concentrated than some of its peers, and polished to a sleek veneer through delicate touches of reverb washes, there is a carefully plied wildness to Only Mountain that absorbs the listener whole.
Samples, synth stabs, kicks and washes dance and duck through each song in a fashion that almost becomes chaotic until it forces you into the melee, drowning in a lush environment of sound. And it couldn’t feel better. The sounds vaguely recall Mux Mool but with the attention span (or lack thereof) of Roberto Carlos Lange, mixed with almost vocal synth melodies that could have been mutated from Tangerine Dream or Lusine.
As wild as Take’s world becomes, it never appears as though he has lost control or given in to self-indulgence. It becomes an addiction to see how each song will evolve and what new voices will be added in. The songs are abstracts in blues and spatters of yellow, never becoming so catchy as to lock us in but too mesmerizing to let us drift away.
Take’s interpretation of electronic beat-dom is of a high caliber, a strong gesture to future evolutions. While the timbres of Only Mountain won’t sound revolutionary to many, their implementation is challenging, and the album stands in sharp contrast to its contemporaries.
REVIEWED BY NEIL LEVENS
NEIL’S FAVORITE TRACKS: “Horizontal Figuration” • “Begin End Begin” • “Implosions”
“Neon Beams” (right-click & save)
Preview & purchase album from eMusic (subscribe and get 25 FREE downloads)
Alpha Pup presents TAKE [Studio Tour] from Alpha Pup on Vimeo.
