Some albums seem so daunting that it’s easy to avoid digging into them for fear that it will not immediately resonate with you on some level, when you feel that it should. So it was with me regarding the new Emeralds album, Does It Look Like I’m Here. I’m in no way an expert in explaining the technical prowess of this band, there are words that exist and thoughts that would make a reasonable attempt at some rudimentary critique but I’d do them no justice. With a band as prolific as Emeralds, it’s hard to pin them down to a particular genre, trend, or decade for that matter. With so many releases, one is tempted to shrug them off as an over active electronic/drone band, but I think that kind of thinking would fail to place Emeralds in the proper context. These songs, more so than some of their earlier releases, feel alive, moving, changing, and above all breathing, that give and take of energies necessary for songs like these to exist. Also, these tracks feel more like songs; they have a more identifiable structure than almost anything that Emeralds have released up until now. If there was ever a band that was served best by headphones, besides Aphex Twin, Emeralds is that band. Similar to the effect of Basinski’s Disintegration Loops, though not in the same league, these songs are meant to be absorbed, osmotically through the skin. They’re meant to be felt, in that grey area where an aural expanse meets the body and something new is created, something special between the listener and artist.
Tracklisting:
02. The Cycle of Abuse
03. Double Helix
04. Science Center (listen to the mp3 below)
05. Genetic
06. Goes By
07. Does It Look Like I’m Here?
08. Summerdata
09. Shade
10. It Doesn’t Arrive
11. Now You See Me
12. Access Granted
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