Mathias Grassow
& Thomas Weiss
Insights
Practising Nature 2007

01. In
02. Circles
03. Whole Pulse
04. Language of Silence
05. Sights

Work by Mathias Grassow is around plenty, yet it never reaches far, perhaps due to the fact that it's released on labels only known by loyal followers of ambient music. Interestingly enough, this is the second time he's hooked up with one Thomas Weiss, following the somewhat religious-inspired Conscience on Nextera. Whether Insights is also set around divinity, we're not told, but may as well be. Right from the opening track 'In', with its choir-like chanting, it's in heavenly mode, and from then on in full spirit (excuse le mot): tracks run into each other more rhythmically than on Conscience. Long sustaining sounds played on synthesizers, backed with a driving rhythm in 'Circles', followed by the deep end drones of 'Whole Pulse' (without a pulse), going through phases of slow chimes in 'Language of Silence' to end with the chirping insect-like sounds of 'Sights' (rather electronically induced than field recordings). In short, a "big A" ambient album that is even better than Conscience, partly because the five pieces nicely flow into each other, yet each with a different character. More like a 70s conceptual album - even when the concept may not directly appeal to you, it still makes great late night atmospheric music. Loud please.

>> gsize / fsend (85mb) (d-_-b)
>> love it, buy it (Databloem)