Only seems like a few days ago we were talking about the Josiah Steinbrick record with Sam Gendel, and now we've another collab issued via his Full Bloom label. This time out he's combined forces with Brin, also known as sound artist Colin Blanton, and someone i'm just now hearing about for the first time. What they each contribute is not necessarily obvious, but their work does seem effortless and natural, defined by that always impressive ability to infuse abstract electronics with palpable emotion and depth. The work with Gendel was ostensibly jazz-rooted for obvious reasons, though Bliss Place is, broadly speaking, more at home within the West Mineral/Experiences Ltd/Sferic world of contemporary electronics, reimagining the multi-layered, texture-driven aesthetics of the Mille Plateaux/Clicks and Cuts sound. 'Time-dilating' is a term we seem to be using a lot at the moment, and i think the strength of Bliss Place is the mastering of that origin-less sound style of composition whereby the tracks don't so much start and end as appear, these ghostly, sedimentary pieces that seem both densely packed and weightless, and possessed of no discernible root. It's a popular sound right now, but it's rarely achieved with such texturally rich grace. Another hit for Steinbrick and Full Bloom.
