The Flashbulb – Soundtrack To A Vacant Life

an album that isnt feeding fast thrills and im sure will intensify and grow on reoeat listens , recommended without hesitation

A pressing of this album on 3xLP was successfully funded on Diggers Factory for 220 copies.
https://www.diggersfactory.com/project/335/the-flashbulb-soundtrack-to-a-vacant-life

Benn Jordan aka The Flashbulb has a long history of pushing sonic boundaries and along with Venetian Snares he has put out some of the most interesting releases in the Drill-core and glitch sub genres.

His 2005 Album Reunion showed us his amazing composition and acoustic performance skills. Here we get something similar in vein but more emotional. As the title suggests, Soundtrack to a Vacant Life is collection of songs to tickle the broad spectrum of human emotion. Don't be mistaken all the trademarks of Jordan's sound, attention paid to details and excellent production values, are here. What marks this release as different and something that stands out of Jordan's output so far is the audible emotion and wide range of experimentation. Jordan has finally come to terms with the two loves of his sonic life: acoustic and electronic music, and here he consolidates them into a complete whole, in a manner only he could. There are thirty-one tracks of music that include diverse styles such as floating ambient, power-chord-drenched hard rock, some good ol' drill-n-bass, classical piano ballads, orchestral violin, weeping sarangis, furious Indian drums and guitar suites.

With all this diversity it would be almost any composers nightmare to bring cohesion and unity to an entire album but Jordan pulls it off stunningly, almost effortlessly. The short tracks are little gems by themselves and fit together perfectly into the tapestry of A Vacant Life. Fans of his earlier, more electronic works, might call this a bit too easy but what they might be overlooking is Jordan turning up the emotional quotient in this sonic output. The range of aural emotions detected by me vary from nostalgia, melancholy, relaxing chill-out, distant and yet involving, child like naivety and at times a feeling of amazement and wonder.

Soundtrack to a Vacant Life never once feels disjointed, choppy or contrived; on the contrary, in Vacant Life, Jordan has crafted one of his most fluid records. Transitions in musical styles and emotional auras are virtually seamless throughout Vacant Life’s seventy-minute plus duration, which is quite a feat considering how drastic those transitions can be. In the blink of an eye, poppy techno can give way to melancholy piano can give way to a furious drum solo (as is the case of the “Someone”-“That Missing Week” stretch), yet there’s no feeling of strain. It’s natural. Jordan brings the listener on an emotional roller-coaster, literally orchestrating the vacant life referred to in the album’s title. Jordan’s expertise in composing for what feels like twenty different moods is the whole reason Soundtrack to a Vacant Life is such an important release in the first place.

Jordan is giving this album away for free, so you really have no excuse if you haven’t heard this album yet. Soundtrack to a Vacant Life is essential for anyone who likes music.

Soundtrack to A Vacant Life brings a more mature Flashbulb that is much more confident with his techniques and more sure of his place as a modern day musician. Every piece is carefully crafted to perfect detail and the short length of these tracks makes them even more special like precious little gems.

Definitely his best album so far, but also one of the best albums in this genre in the last few years, easily surpassing recent works of veterans in his field. 4.9/5