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White Rainbow, "New Clouds"
Adam Forkner’s second album for Kranky sees him further developing his already exquisite sound. Each of the four pieces on this album float in a way that lives up to the album’s title: thick cumulous clouds threatening to rain. The dreamy compositions are low key but utterly bewitching; the sinuous synth rhythms and ephemeral, indistinct vocals create a womb-like feeling of comfort. As such, New Clouds has been good these last few weeks for helping me forget a lot of tension.
“Tuesday Rollers and Strollers” opens with densely layered instrumentation marked by large amounts of processing and long, extended loops. This can be quite tedious, as it is standard practice for the bedroom recording artist with no virtuosic talent, but Forkner pulls it off spectacularly. A whirlwind of rhythm guitar, unearthly vocals, and drumming provide the backdrop for countless guitar solos, which swoop down through the mix like eagles diving in for the kill.
The rest of the album takes on a more sedate vibe, but at no point does the quality drop. Forkner’s attention to minute details is evident throughout New Clouds. The gentle patter of percussion that opens “Major Spillage” develops slowly and methodically into a progression of sustained synthesiser notes, ghostly vocals, and a general feeling of wide open spaces. The transition across the track is, at first, barely perceptible. At some point I suddenly realized that the music had moved well beyond what I was expecting. Eventually the primitive percussion and drones of “All the Boogies in the World” are broken up by some intense electronic trickery, which makes for some seriously enjoyable headphone moments.
Forkner makes albums for people who listen to albums. Any of these pieces on their own is nice enough, but taken as a whole New Clouds is fantastic. Subtle nuances don't merely occur within each song; the way each track flows into the next works exceptionally well, too. Moreover, each piece has been finished off masterfully. It all sounds so rich and full; listening to it on my mp3 player did a great disservice to all Forkner’s work. This is an album that needs an hour put aside for proper listening. A good sound system only enchances the experence. Playing this on a sub-standard meidum means missing out on a subtle and blissful experience.
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