Reviews

Brain Storm Improv

The second release of 2015 for the Audiobulb label goes to Adam Wilkinson'sQuiet Noise project. a release spanning 11 tracks of bells and wonderful experimental electronics that will definitely tickle you in the places that one need be tickled. Wonderfully playful and not unlike a mobile one would find in a child's crib, audible life crafts soundscapes that just allows one to have their heads in the clouds for a little while.

Wilkinson spends most of his adult time being a sound engineer yet it is apparent that there is definitely a master at work behind, what seems at times as a clumsy playfulness. 

This release would appeal to those who appreciate the childlike quality and artfulness of acts such as Lullatone or iceland's darlings Múm.

Audible Life is set for release on February 18 and will be available through the Audiobulb website in both 16/24-bit formats as well as your favorite digital shops such as bleep, amazon and itunes.

Bleep

Having seen his music used in a range of film and TV productions, Quiet Noise (aka Adam Wilkinson) has clearly been perfecting his craft readying this LP for Audiobulb Records. There is a sensory focus to tracks like CBT and Trying To Be where off-centre electronica is stretched and tested to create a truly cerebral listening experience. Even in the more ambient moments, there is a lucid dreamlike quality to these compositions which is testament to a producer and a symphonist looking to create lasting moments as opposed to bitesize singles.

5 Against 4

Audible Life, a new album by Quiet Noise, the moniker for British composer/sound engineer Adam Wilkinson. The textures are light and playful, but there’s a recurring undercurrent of seriousness that rears its head in moments of introspection. They prevent Audible Life from becoming a victim of its own whimsy, and imprint an authentically human presence throughout all the ostensibly aloof clockwork mechanisms and loops.

Louder Than War

Quiet Noise (Adam Wilkinson) has been quietly and steadily building himself a reputation as an eclectic and revered producer with his music being used on nature documentaries and short films. With Audible Life he has presented an album rich in textures and solid in concept.

Running throughout the album, Quiet Noise utilises the sounds of chimes invoking a dream state where things are not quite what they seem. The album exists in the space between awake and sleep, a gloaming that affects us all and where thoughts are lucid. Sometimes scary, sometimes euphoric.

The opening one-two salvo of Kinder and Frost Thaws At Sunrise creep up on you with glitchy undercurrents and textual nuances that on the surface seem to be ambient by nature but underneath something unsettling is happening.

CBT picks up the pace and introduces a swing and a thump with a beat that would not sound out of place on a Roots Manuva album. It’s a track that fully embraces the insidious sensations that have threatened to emerge on the previous two tracks.

It Will Get Better bursts in rolling on a glitch-step beat the type that Thom Yorke is now so fond of and is the first song on the album that utilities vocals albeit vocals that are distant, hovering away in the background used for texture more than impact.

Audible Life then, unfortunately, takes an audible dip as Longing For Home (hangs around to long) Trying To Be (weak Drone) and Hold Up Your Ribcage (plodding and superfluous) play like they belong on a different release. Muddled and inconsistent, this run of songs deflates the sense of joy attained by what has gone before.

Thankfully, we are then brought back up by the twisted garage rhythms of You Make Being Me Less Scary. A song in two parts, You Make Being Me Less Scary unfurls to become a sunrise anthem that starts in the dark before bursting into the light. The introduction of the strings, including a gorgeous harp, end the song on a note of positivity not seen on any other part of the album.

This level of quality continues throughout the last section of Audible Life. I’ll Work It Out (sluggish, lurching….in a great way) Wander Off The Path (trance like dance number) and Set The Day’s Pace (a mini symphony that closes the album) all help to finish the album on a positive note.

With Audible Life, Quiet Noise has created an electronica album that can sit proudly with any of the bigger name titles out there at the moment. Thematically and texturally spot on, Audible Life is an album that  creeps inside the mind and lingers long after listening.

EtherREAL

La production de certains labels (et particulièrement ceux qui se concentrent sur des sorties digitales) nous empêche d’évoquer ici l’ensemble de leurs parutions. Un travail de tamisage s’avère donc nécessaire, il nous condamne à passer sous silence des publications recommandables, mais pas suffisamment mémorables pour nous marquer outre mesure, pour préférer nous arrêter sur des pièces plus singulières. C’est un peu le cas d’Audiobulb, structure anglaise d’electronica qui en est déjà à sa cinquante-neuvième référence, et qui livre le premier album de Quiet Noise, musicien britannique adepte d’une electronica mélodique aux fortes consonances cristallines.

En effet, chez Adam Wilkinson, l’utilisation de toy piano, Glockenspiels, rivières et clochettes forme une part importante de son travail de composition, le reste étant constitué de petites rythmiques programmées ou bien de notes de mandoline et guitare. Dans ce contexte, on ne sera guère surpris d’apprendre que, chez l’Anglais et dans la lignée d’un intitulé d’album qui mettait déjà sur cette piste, tout fait musique, qu’il s’agisse d’un couvercle de bocal (dont le « pop » sert de composant rythmique) aux sandows tenant son coffre de voiture fermé (la tension de l’élastique en faisant une basse).

Grande délicatesse, caractère soigné, dimension onirico-mignonne et travail sur la stéréo bâtissent alors un ensemble pleinement agréable, dans lequel quelques craquèlements et déchirures viennent néanmoins bousculer les agencements ordonnés (Hold Up Your Ribcage). De même, les pulsations légèrement dubs de Wander Off The Path sonnent un peu différemment et interviennent sans gêne aux côtés des matériaux plus traditionnels de Quiet Noise.