Jasper TX - I'll Be Long Gone Before My Light Reaches You

The first time I heard this I was sitting along the Madawaska River in Eastern Canada. Loaded onto my mp3 player, headphones blaring, I sat and did not move for roughly an hour. I watched birds fly through the air, gliding to the fluffy, hypnotic guitar work reminiscent of Fennesz. Water flows past you at a fast rate, twinkling in the sunlight to the sounds of a toy piano. All and all Dag Rosenqvist displays a stunning work of music, sounding like so many other artists, yet so utterly unique.

Tracks can follow structure and melody, where others can be all over. Letting Go (The World Is Coming To An End) is highly disorganized in structure, however it maintains a melody throughout the song. Breaking off from a subtle piano, it morphs itself into layers upon layers of mechanical sounding drone, that of Moljebka Pvlse (only not so dark).

However, while much of it contains an element of ambiance and noise, each track retains some form of melody. Help Them Die is a misanthropic sounding track with lots of distortion, as if somebody left a microphone in their pocket. Eventually, though, Rosenqvist brings back the ever present guitar for more stunning, illusive melodiousness.

Overall the album is a stunning work of art, perfect for any setting, mood or drug. Both organic and mechanical sounding, the whole thing is perfectly orchestrated, combining the likes of Kettel, Ontayso, Rafael Anton Irisarri and much more, yet retains a high amount of originality, which is ever so needed in todays washed out electronic music.