Black Square

a little bit of chill time.. trust me - you deserve it.

in the past couple of years, i have made a point to not go anywhere near music by artists with capitalised, vowelless names. but after coming across bnjmn and his new album "black square", it looks like i'll be making an exception. 

in place of the 30 odd minutes of cheese encrusted, subtle-as-sledgehammers rubbish that i expected was a beautiful collection of fragile, ambient electronica and minimal - akin to the likes of the field or perhaps even boards of canada.

i dont generally like to simultaneously post two tracks from an album, but i think today i'll do it to quickly illustrate the diverse yet cohesive sounds on "black square". 

the title track ("black square") and most upbeat cut "open the floodgates" sit snugly together at #'s five and six, and while the differences are immediately apparent, it is their similarities that make this album the powerful piece of work that it is:

"black square" is a heavy, feedback laden odyssey that gently pulses and bubbles its way into your consciousness. there are no real hooks or melodies here - just a multitude of lovely sounds and these incredibly insistent, determined - yet oh-so-distant drums. 

BNJMN - Black Square

"open the floodgates" is the showiest piece of "black square" with it's driving beat, choir stabs and frenetic melody.. it is the kind of track whose beaming euphoria grabs you straight away - and perhaps the one you would tire of first. 

still - one of those awesome tracks that works in your headphones or front and centre in dfloor land. 

BNJMN - Open The Floodgates

but despite the diversity in these two tracks, what really impresses is the whimsical, cinematic quality that somehow ties them - and indeed the whole album - together. bnjmn has really impressed with his knack for creating palpable, dense environments and the judicious - sometimes sparing use of percussion & drums. 

"black square" could (and maybe should) take pride of place in your early week survival /sunday ease out of weekend schedule.

check out bnjmn's "black square". find it here.