Style: Deeply obscured ambient
Primary Emotions/Themes: Peace where there should be chaos, calm in the midst of unrest
Thoughts: I close my eyes, I see before me a brewing storm. The world is brewing it's conspiracies against me, trying to defeat me once again. It bears an unnameable malice towards me, towards every. single. living thing on this planet. It will not be content until all have suffered greatly at it's hands.
I take a deep breath, I look inward, I find peace. The storm that surrounds me is incapable of reaching my inner sanctum. While it rages around me I am at peace, I have found the eye.
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Explosions in Slow Motion is one of the most profound pieces of ambient music I have in my collection. It is the fulfillment of all the promise that BVDub has shown over so many albums. While not his best work, it is certainly a top five album of his. Considering how many albums this dude has released that is saying quite a bit.
The fascinating thing about this album is that nothing much has changed from his previous works. The hazy ambience is there, the long form songs, the distorted vocals, the occasional beat. All the ingredients are the same, yet somehow this one come out stronger.
Unlike other times when something is "just better" without any quantifiable reasons, Explosions in Slow Motion is the exact opposite. The way that these songs progress is impeccable. They start out minimalist, and remain so in the amount of individual ideas presented at one time. The minimalism does not mean that this album feels hollow though, in fact quite the opposite. Through simplicity comes greatness.
The album truly does feel like the eye of a storm. The music feels like it should be frantic, but instead it feels like a moment of clarity. The world slows down, peace envelops everything, and the world is as it should be.
What really drives this home for me is the inclusion of stringed instruments. Cello and violin are used at key moments during the main songs as well as the interludes to make this album that much more profound. I can't emphasize enough how powerful these moments are. It's like finding that missing peace to a puzzle you have been searching for for years. The moment when you realize the solution to a problem that has been taxing at you for eons. It's Archimedes shouting eureka while running around town naked.
Explosions in Slow Motion is all these things and none of them. It is it's own expression of an age old truth in audio form. A truly astounding album.
Written May 20th 2024
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