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Fluorescent Grey, "Gaseous Opal Orbs"
Fluorescent Grey's second full-length creates beat-driven collages out of electronics and found sounds. Each of the nine tracks has a distinct theme and methodology. Yet despite the variety of styles found here, I still found this album to be missing something vital.
The sonic interplay that opens "Chrono-Synclastic Infundibulum" lacks the dynamics and grit necessary to make it texturally satisfying, and the beats that eventually infiltrate the song aren't very riveting. Not only do they sound canned, they obfuscate the atmospherics in the background to the song's detriment. Many of the rapid glitch beats found in this song as well as "Molten Ghost" and "Are You Aware of the Pink Light Emanating from Your Navel?" seem to come straight out of the Aphex Twin playbook from ten years ago or longer, and I don't really hear anything new or different on these. However, I did like "Ayhuascaro Empyreal," "Physically Modelled Theme for Children," and "Palette Swap Dub" quite a bit. All have a tighter focus and more fully realized rhythms than the other tracks.
Even so, these three tracks aren't enough to redeem this album's sterility and dependence on its forbears. Gaseous Opal Orbs isn't bad by any means, but there isn't enough here to make it more than ordinary.
