Xenopocene

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Xenopocene, meaning "alien age," is inspired by Daedelus' artist residency with the SETI Institute, a not-for-profit organization researching extraterrestrial life. With a track listing that traces a timeline starting with the first extraterrestrial contact and progressing to the ten-thousandth day before setting sights on a destination thousands of years in the future, the album is one of the most ambitious, conceptual works of the artist's career. From the lush strings (by violinist Vivek Menon) and expansive, fluttering synths of "Contact - Day 0," Xenopocene probes deep into the cosmos and searches for answers. "Concerning the Conduct of the Search" captures incomprehensible vocal fragments in a matrix of stuttering glitches, expressing the shock of discovery, even if there's no way to identify what has been found, and nothing has been proven yet. "A Considered Reply - Day 1" conveys hope and excitement with a stuttering, garage-inspired beat navigating a path through swelling, exuberant strings. "Fractious - Day 10" has a much more Autechre-like elastic beat pattern, and "Day 100" is similarly hyperactive at the start but eventually starts to wind down. The beatless "Starfire" is a reflection on deep space exploration, with R.A.P. Ferreira contributing profound poetry: "We spit this missive in hopes you hear us." "Float," featuring the Breathing Effect, buries guitar melodies under a swamp of distortion and oblong beats, creating a form of space jazz far from what Sun Ra had in mind. The digitally stretched orchestration of "New Dae" sounds like a malfunctioning Disney soundtrack, and "Lightness - Day 10K" rockets forth with bursting synths and jumping beats with steel drum-like tones. Xenopocene seems strange and heady at first, but it's surprisingly more playful and fun than it looks.

© Paul Simpson /TiVo