Expanding
on the notions of pop music has always been a concern
for Ben D. Edwards, better known as Benge. The exceptional
qualities of the series of 7” released on his Expanding
Records label since its formation in 1995 and collected
on the Condition Of Muzak compilation released last year,
including work by Benge himself, as well as Tennis, in
which he also officiates, or Volume to name but two, alongside
his releases on Belgian label Quatermass have established
Edwards as one of the innovators of the electronica.
His first album since 1999’s Silicon Valleys,
Meme Tunes is a collection of beautiful ethereal
songs, built around disarmingly simple patterns. Draping
beautiful melodies with swathes of warm sounds and precious
beats, Edwards creates minimalist atmospheric smooth-edged
pieces which, like the surface of a lake gently disturbed
by a soft breeze, constantly change shape and colour.
Echoes of dub and abstract pop reflect some aspects of
Benge’s earlier releases, but here, he has moved
on from an ‘electronic-as-a-goal’ ethic which
sometime deflated his work in the past to now use it as
a tool to expend on his imagination. Each one of the eleven
tracks present here has got its own identity, yet the
impression of extreme consistency runs through the intricate
beat constructions and the hypnotic soundscapes layered
over them. Edwards sometimes draws on romantic emotions,
most notably on the piano-led Urban. Despite
the static scratches supporting the leading melody, there
is a dreamy touch here, and the shattered elements of
conversation entering the soundscape in the later part
of the track only add to the original effect. At other
times, He seems more in touch with everyday life, as on
the more upfront Pica Unit, where he arranges
a narcoleptic melody on which metallic percussive sounds
come bouncing now and then. Tame/Rude Image demonstrates
a more playful approach, as Edwards drives a playfully
deconstructed melody over concussed beats, slowly building
up the track as an unlikely coda, before returning to
vaporous compositions, concluding with the magnificently
restrained Eve's Escape Valve.
Meme Tunes seems somehow entirely removed from
reality, and provide the listener with an ideal after-hours
collection of escapist tracks. The minutia deployed by
Benge in his sonic constructions manages to make of this
record a constantly renewed experience, as new elements
seem to capture one’s imagination every time.
4.5/5 |
