The new album from Daniel Avery and Alessandro Cortini is the rarest of electronic releases that features music that's actually warm. Maybe I don't listen to enough stuff like this anymore, or maybe this is just a really great record? Illusion of Time, out now via Mute, is easy to fall into, and easy to recommend.
"Sun" is mildly abrasive but the title cut on "Illusion of Time" is reminiscent of soundtracks from Bill Nelson or Vangelis. Elsewhere, "Inside the Ruins" churns and rumbles with the sort of menace one heard in the Blade Runner (1982) score, to reference Vangelis again, or even in bits of Eraserhead (1977). "At First Sight" takes that same kind of vibe and makes it into music that's mildly euphoric. The epic "Water" bridges the quiet and loud portions of Illusion of Time to offer up the culmination of lots of what's here.
Daniel Avery and Alessandro Cortini have crafted something that feels momentous and spur of the moment. There's a sense of something both scary and wonderful arriving in some of these pieces, and one feels like the music on Illusion of Time is both retro in its sensibility, but also decidedly modern in the sense of how little this all feels beholden to any easy genre label. I really liked this one, and I felt like I was being surprised by something. And it's something that's ultimately simple and complex at the same time.
Illusion of Time is out now via Mute.
More details on Daniel Avery via the official Facebook page. More details on Alessandro Cortini via the official Facebook page.
[Photos: Steve Gullick and Emilie Elizabeth]