White Space (El Blanco's Archive):blog

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Rooster Running - Chicane: Behind the Sun 4.1/5

 2000 was a great year. All sorts of stuff
happened. Actually I don’t really recall much about that great
pre-millennial year other than spending tons and tons of time studying.
Being an INTJ PT and visual-tactile learner, I always liked to spend
time in my own mind while performing my studies. This is tough to do in
a study hall full of extroverts but a strategy I employed that turned
out to be rather effective was to put on a headset and some nice
background music. The requirements for this music turned out to be more
exact than I originally thought:

   -- - --- -== =  == == = = ----- - - -- -
     - Nothing major to catch my attention
       and divert my studying
     - No lyrics in any language I can
       understand (it seems vocals in
       languages I know nothing about are
       interpreted in my noggin’ as
       instruments)
     - An upbeat tempo
     - Certain chord progressions seemed to
       work better than others
   -- - --- -== =  == == = = ----- - - -- -

     Several studies on music and cognition turn out to have very
interesting results that have spawned numerous theories. For example,
the oft studied "Mozart Effect", or why classical music is often
preferred by engineers and scientists while working (here is a hint:
it’s the layers of highly structured complexity).
     It’s too bad that I didn’t run across Chicane’s 2000 release
"Behind the Sun" when I was hitting the books. This is simply a fantastic
album full of music suitable for background noise filler or for serious
listening and analysis of the content. The fact that it still stands up
in ’05 is testament to the carefully crafted songs and the
non-traditional takes on familiar genres by front man Nick Bracegirdle.
     Perhaps the greatest aspect of this album is the continual shift
of genre to genre. Sure, most of the album can be classified under the
broad umbrella label of "dance/electronic music". But dance/electronic
music is a HUGE genre with literally hundreds of sub-genres.
Classifying anything as "dance/electronic music" is ultimately a
cop-out and a sign of laziness. Ishkur calls Chicane "Ibiza Trance"
and I suppose that is as good a classification as any but I’d make the
conjecture that that classification might only be good for a song or
two. While not having the extreme diversity in its representation
of musical disciplines as say "The Innovators" (the only album I’ll ever
give a better than perfect score to), "Behind the Sun" does an
effective job of diversifying its sound across songs so as not to
become too boring to listen to in a single sitting. Track 2 "Low Sun"
is as different from Track 7 "Overlap" as Track 6 "Autumn Tactics" is
to Track 8 "Don’t Give Up". Since this is an album made up of a myriad
of genres it seems fair then to look at each song rather than the album
as a single entity.

Track 1 - Overture (3:44)
     When I first heard this track I thought only one thing, Blade Runner.
And as much as I respect Vangelis I don’t think
that I could sit through another 60+ minutes of spacey synth music at
80-100 beats per minute. Fortunately, I was wrong on two fronts. When
this track was named "Overture" they meant it purely as such, an
opening to a larger work - the album. Secondly, while this track does
share some musical ideas with much of Vangelis’ soundtrack(s), it goes
off in some different directions, specifically at the 1:30 mark. Here
is a small homage to the tightly clustered brass chords used to such
great effect by Don Davis 1999’s "The Matrix". After that midway mark,
the track begins to pick up a rhythm implied by an alternating two-tone
synth in the middle of the mix. A fantastic mix of orchestral and synth
that I think sets a benchmark for future work in the area.

Track 2 - Low Sun (6:56)
     After hearing "Overture", then transitioning into "Low Sun", I
knew that I was in for something special with this album. This is a
massive genre jump from "Overture" that left me completely grasping
for a single encompassing genre for this album. Of course I quickly
corrected the mistake of trying to classify this album this way.
Composed using atypical acoustic, synth and background pads, this song
is driven by a simple acoustic bass and tambourine. Percussion is light
and minimal and Bracegirdle managed to avoid bringing in an electronic
style dance rhythm and instead sets up layers upon layers of simple,
light repeating grooves. At one point he uses a harp to subtly pull the
song along. This with a guitar, an electric piano, some flutes, some
string pads and others to create an amazing atmosphere that you don’t
want to leave. Some others have remarked that this track is too
repetitive. A valid point if you don’t take the time to tease apart the
subtle interplay and transitions of the layers. I found that I can
continually dig deeper and deeper in this sonic space and find new
ideas and instrumentation after every listening - amazing.

Track 3 - No Ordinary Morning (5:10)

     One of two pure vocal tracks on the album (I’ll discuss the vocals
in "Saltwater" and "Don’t Give Up" later) and a track which brings out
a weakness in this album. The track by itself is perfectly serviceable
and is not necessarily a poor track. I find myself listening to it
quite often. It’s clear what the tapestry was that Bracegirdle was
weaving here. But something went a little...off...when the final
mix-down was brought together. The instrumentation is fine and light,
with a simple drum-loop and bass interplay for the rhythm. The space is
filled in with some basic synth pads. The problem comes with the
vocals. The overall flow of the sound mix is great but there is a
problem here. I’m not entirely certain it’s the fault of the singer or
the lyrics. The singer sounds emotionally stilted. The melody line
flows pretty well with subtle harmonizing thrown in for good measure
but the overall phrasing sounds...off...and the overall effect ends up
being unfortunately amateurish. I don’t think I’ve heard such a
promising song get messed up since Mars Lasar’s 11:02. Just like Mars’
work, not bad but in dire need of a professional producer to pull this
together. Clearly the sign of a great instrumental composer, but not a
vocal composer.

Track 4 - Saltwater (10:03)

     Starting with this track, it’s easy to see why this album is
usually classified under some type of dance genre. Prior to this, the
first three tracks really had nothing about them that hinted that a
Trance track or two would be coming up. Hitting this came as quite a
shock on some level. While this is often considered to be a "vocal"
track, I disagree. The vocals are provided by Clannad (either
through sampling or guest vocals I know not). It’s an interesting
mix, and an interesting idea though I suppose it’s simply an alternate
to using sibling Enya’s vocals. I’m not entirely sure it came off well
though. Oh, the trance portion is Paul van Dyke delicious and using
Clannad as the vocals was inspired. However, there seems to be a slight
discrepancy in the reverb and mix between the tracks with the "van
Dyke" portion crisp and sharp and the "Clannad" portion muddy. It
sounds like the real song starts at 8:30 in the track. Still I give an
A for effort, imminently listenable with really what amounts to a few
small quibbles.

Track 5 - Halcyon (9:01)

     A nice pure danceable trance track that would find its home in any
van Dyke, Oakenfold or Sasha set (and probably has). It really gets
started with the theme at around 2:40 in the track. There are a couple
of interesting subtle things happening here that you don’t here many
other places, good counterpoint. Sure there is the primary melody which
anybody with a set of tympanic membranes can pick out, but behind that
at a slightly higher register (and fattened through a little detuning)
is an interesting rhythmic melody acting as a counterpoint (starting at
around 2:56) but also helps tie the chord progression in with the
primary - very interesting and effective. At first listen, I thought I
didn’t particularly care for the detuned sound, but after a few listens
it really pulled together for me and I ended up enjoying it. Nothing
too deeply layered here but really an effective track.

Track 6 - Autumn Tactics (4:55)

     The second of what I consider the "vocal tracks". Bracegirdle
slows things down a hair and sweetens them up. Of the two vocals in
this album I consider this to be the stronger. The vocalist definitely
delivers a deeper range of emotional content than in "No Ordinary
Morning". The instrumentation is rich and layered without ever becoming
over present. In fact, it serves as a fantastic pedestal for the vocals.
At the first few listens through I thought I had pretty much learned
all I could from this song and was about to pronounce it great. Then
something caught my attention, there is a small bridge around 2:07 then
something great almost happens at 2:48. The acoustic guitar takes
on an uplifting rhythm and the interplay between it and the drums
almost brings the song up to a whole new level. But it lasts only
moment and the song goes back to being merely very good. It’s too bad
Bracegirdle couldn’t latch onto this a bit more and pull this track up.

Track 7 - Overlap (4:38)

     This track serves one and only one purpose - as filler between
Track 6 "Autumn Tactics" and Track 8 "Don’t Give Up". It’s boring with
nothing really interesting happening or developing throughout the
entire song. It’s just simply not as inspired as the rest of the
tracks. The only justification I can conjure up for this nonsense is so
that on a track-to-track continuous playback of the album, the vocals
and style of Track 6 won’t class with Track 8’s Bryan Adams
provided disco stylings. Weird and doesn’t make sense to me.
This is one of the few tracks that could have simply been left off or
put onto a B-sides album.

Track 8 - Don’t Give Up (8:23)

     Much has been written about Bryan Adams contributions for the
vocals on this track. I cry gimmick. I’ve heard dozens of similar
neo-disco offerings with similar sounding vocoded"talking synths".
Taking Adams out of the equation and simply looking at this as a dance
track, well it’s simply brilliant. This is easily one of the two best
tracks on the album (along with Track 2 "Low Sun"). The genius is the
fill on the primary synth pad (first really heard at around 2:26). For
the first few bars of the lick, the pad is playing a more or less
typical rhythm backing for the vocals, then rrright at the end, it goes
up the scale and then back down (first at around 2:33). The effect is
simple, and is what differentiates Chicane from run of the mill dance
track composers. This track is what helps pull the album ranking from
the high 3’s up into the 4’s. It’s simply inspired and a great listen.

Track 9 - Saltwater (The Thrillseekers Remix) (6:55)

     Simply a slightly jazzed up piano backed mix of Track 4
"Saltwater" with less rhythm. Hmm..let’s call it "Saltwater" mixed with
a little Windham Hill
and some Vangelis rubbed in for good measure. My best guess is that the
"thrillseekers" referred to are folks who need a good make-out song to
fill in the space between the spastic grunts. And I suppose this suits
that pretty well. If I was the grand producer for a day I would have
called this the best song on the upcoming B-sides album.

Track 10 - Andromeda (6:36)

     It’s not very often that I make it to the last song of an album.
It’s too bad that this track has nothing really to offer. It sounds
like a bad hard mix of a mid-90’s experimental ambient trance song.
This and Track 7 "Overlap" could have been left off and not harmed the
album at all. Really nothing to offer here. Blegh, an unfortunate note
to end off an otherwise great album.