"Ribbon Blue" by Xenia At is a contemporary, mind-bending album, a collection of sound design, composition, synths and modulators, and hazy but brilliant vocals.
The album consists of four vocal pieces and one instrumental piece, each of which touches the borders of musical anarchy. From contemporary classical, minimalism, and post industrialism to ambient, all have a part in this album.
“Take a Ribbon Blue” is the opening song of the album. A mad noise leads to a brutal drum section accompanied by synths. The vocals follow afterward. The singing voice of Xenia, as well as all the instruments in the album, sounds distorted and far away. More important than the lyrics are the mood of the voice and sounds. Noises, instruments, and vocals create a bizarre soundscape that defies normality and creates a shock wave to wake the audience from the big sleep that is called life.
“Sound Shifter,” the second piece, starts with a minimalistic electronic modulator. The vocal starts whispering in our ears, This is a sound shifter, first in a hazy and distorted way, but slowly the words take shape as the sound shifts into a clearer expression. The influence of minimalism, especially Steve Reich and Philip Glass, is evident in this piece.
“A Suicide Note on a Sunny Day” is a somber piece, an anathema, a masterpiece of sound engineering. The games Xenia plays with the vocal line that repeats the same verse as the piece’s title over and over again is mind-blowingly genius. This track is, without a doubt, one of my personal favorite vocal pieces that I have recently heard.
“Sick Mind’s Journey” is another electronic experimental piece with strong reverb effects on the vocals. It reminded me of Björk, an experimental piece with roots in pop music.
“Sleep Alone” is the closing piece and the only instrumental piece of the album. It starts with the modulator’s arpeggio, and the organ-like timbre of a synth with a deep sound takes over the development of the melody. In the development of this piece, the changes in the timbre of the synth are more in the center stage than the conventional melodic developments.
“Ribbon Blue” is not an easy album to listen to; you can’t just play it in the background of your daily life and enjoy it. Xenia’s music demands attention. You need to take your time and delve deeply into the layers of the sound design and composition of the album, but the reward is exquisite. The joy of listening to "Ribbon Blue" and giving in to its brutal but honest and beautiful soundscape is uncanny.
Comments