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Perimeters

2011
  1. Anthrazit (feat. Field Rotation)
  2. Snöflinga
  3. Perimeters
  4. In between
  5. Xylem
  6. Resin (Overspring edit)
  7. Heaven report
  8. Antimatter (Ante)
  9. Antimatter (Post)
  10. The missing words
  11. Currents

French musician Vincent Villius, real name behind Aes Dana, is co-founder of the Ultimae Records label, one of the best in the world specialized in IDM, ambient and downtempo. This should be a tip about where the beats are going. Perimeters is his fifth studio album and is probably the best example of Aes Dana defining style.

The first theme, 'Anthrazit', slowly opens the album, building a rythmic base little by little with glitchs that take good advantage of the stereo spectrum. Promptly enters a violin by Christoph Berg (aka Field Rotation) with a beautiful, although very short, melody that provides the touch of warmth and humanity. 'Snöflinga' takes the revolutions down, as if it wanted to prepare the way for what is coming. In the beginning 'Perimeters' seems to repeat the schema, starting slowly and with glitchs floating from here to there, but its ten minutes are long enough for much more. In its second half the percussion and deep bass take over. It attract the attention the inclusion of a short (again) piano melody. Last trace of humanity in the album.

At this point, it seems evident that melodies are not Aes Dana's centre of attention. Much more importance is given to bass lines, which stand out over pads. The rythmic frame is not as complex as in Solar Fields' works, for instance, but they're elaborated enough to avoid monotony (always a risk in this type of music). 'In between' is a good example of this changes.

'Xylem' is a dark interlude, a short pause before the two most powerful themes in the album: 'Resin' and, particularly, 'Heaven Report', which distances itself from the album's general downtempo and gives several steps into hypnotic psytrance direction.

Once reached the zenith, the remaining themes are a slow farewell. 'Antimatter's first part has the same dark tone of 'Xylem', a pause maybe too strong after 'Heaven Report's adrenalin discharge. Things seem to go up in its second half, but it is only an illusion: there's not enough race left. After the tension, 'Currents' is an ending full of gloom.

Perimeters is not easy to asimilate: none of Aes Dana's work is. But maybe this one is too subtle: details, changes and hints within the themes are not so evident and catching them requires an important amount of patience.

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