Digitonal are unusual amongst their down tempo peers. While they make instrumental music, a lot of it is organically grown, so to speak – so it’s not unusual to hear a live violin or clarinet track among the ambient beats and cool keyboards. Often the music is improvisatory in nature, but never falls into the trap of playing notes for the sake of it, meaning the listener can just enjoy the gorgeous sounds. The quality threshold is high too, so it’s quickly forgotten that this is a collection of early material – it sounds just like a new album if the truth be told. Sometimes the influence of classical music comes to the fore – with shades even of Vaughan Williams in ‘Overline’. Meanwhile ‘Drencrom’ is more beat driven, and the fluttering chords of ‘Snowflake Vectors’ take on more of an urgency. An extremely fine piece of ambient work.
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Ben Hogwood
