ENV(itre) – Leaving Traces

Why shouldn't IDM be listenable? This is likely the question that goes through electronica artist Miroslaw Majewski's mind when he takes the studio seat for production. Better known as ENV(itre), Majewski knows how to make a tune sonically interesting without being pretentious. This should be refreshing to you if you've tried to listen to any of Autechre's material from Confield until now, and couldn't sense the musicality in any of it.

Leaving Traces has sounds that fill up the entire spectrum of anything you'd expect on an electronic album, from delicate synth plucks to heavy but surprisingly smooth bass pads. Along with the carefully chosen synth voicings come an even wider variety of percussion sounds, ranging from light crackling on “Lesioqnet” to big, pounding beats on “Broken Toybox.” All of this sprayed with a coat of reverb (and sometimes an extra coat, just for good measure).

Inside every track you can expect warm, moving bass and swirling, dubbed-out chords, all reacting with drum patterns that are varied enough to be interesting and enjoyable, but not enough to be absurd. You won't find any melodies that you can sing along to, but you will find a completely immersive listening experience that's probably like nothing you've heard before. You won't have one or two favorite songs from Leaving Traces; instead, you'll enjoy it much more by listening to it while going on a walk at night. This music is all about texture and subtlety, and you can tell that every second of this sonic tapestry was lovingly woven by hand.

Leaving Traces was released for free on the !imbue Aud!o netlabel. You can pick it up by going to http://materializm.webs.com/ii002.htm

Album highlights: “Purple Lake Nights,” “Broken Toybox,” “Oleaysum,” “Tyrean.”

http://www.myspace.com/envitre

Review by Carson Sestili.