Omnimotion is Stefan Lundaahl, a guy who has an enormous musical background, having explored, studied and performed in various musical genres. He released his debut album as Omnimotion four years ago, since then he was gathering an enormous amount of material, and this new album is a selection of some of the best stuff under his sleeve.
This is the sixth release of Aleph Zero Records, probably the best chill/ambient label around, being responsible for the latest Shulman and Bluetech albums. The art design is another strong point of this release, transmitting what in my opinion is the "theme" of this release: the interactions between man and nature.
As with all Aleph Zero releases, this album was mastered by Yaniv Shulman, and sounds right and clear.
I'll try to pinpoint some of my favorite tracks while commenting the album, the problem is that I have so many favorites here that it's hard to start. Well, the first track that comes to mind is Days of Silence, which has an emotional atmosphere and an element in common with some other tracks here: the human voice as a musical instrument and also as a way to give meaning and direction to the music. Days of Silence is one of my favorite here, and is also one of the two tracks that have what I'd call "singers", which means long lyrics and not just a spoken/song loop. The other track is Purple Sky, which happens to have a rapper as a singer, the lyrics are about the interactions between man and nature, and his voice melts with the interesting musical content.
On the other side there are excellent "traditional" chill tracks like Nothingness and Dubber that could easily be between the highlights of any downtempo compilation. Nothingness was the perfect choice to open the album, it introduces most of album's elements in a smooth way, and also has that involving atmosphere that makes it stick in my mind. Dubber is packed with a powerful bass and many small details hidden between the beats... Easily another favorite.
There are also some track here in which the lyrics complement the music in such a synergic way that is hard to explain, for example Cozy Life, Japan, Wide Awake, Being and Open my Heart. The vocals are there to make the song's theme explicit. These tracks work perfectly to me, walking on the streets while listening to them makes me lighter, makes me look at the clouds or to the trees... I don't know, maybe they just make me feel relaxed. Once again the recurrent theme is the interactions between man and nature, and human existence itself.
The only track I didn't like is Electronic Love. I don't know specifically why, the only thing that is clear is that I don't like the vocals in this one. But it's not so bad that I have to skip it.
A special remark goes to Ton Image, a track that sounds much more organic to me, and I think that if I had to choose just one track to represent the whole album it would be Ton Image, or maybe Nothingness.
I think it is obvious that this album is wonderful for home listening, I have listened it over and over, and everyone who comes near asks me "what is this music?".
I recommend it to be listened on a powerful sound system, it was a pleasant experience to me to really feel the music. I see this release as more ambient than chill/psy, this is a positive aspect to me, specially taking in consideration the flexibility that arise from its diversity. |
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