Hailing
from Bulgaria, Esem mastermind George Marinov emerged
last year with his first album, Enveloped,
following a sting of highly promising EPs. Although
the album, released on deFocus, remained somewhat something
of a discreet affair, it however caught the imagination
of a discerning audience with its lush soundscapes.
Sometimes associated with the like of Lackluster,
Esem’s first offering, if at times relying on
early-Warp style musical structures, demonstrated an
interesting approach to electronic music, mostly based
on melodies.
For this second album, his first for Miami-based Merck,
Esem drifts away slightly from the calm atmospheres
of his previous record to explore more upbeat and complex
structures, yet Marinov retains the warm characteristic
of his previous outputs all the way through. Often evoking
the polished melodies of early Autechre,
Serial Human is classic electronica in its
purest form. Consciously avoiding the current trends
to focus on entirely electronic constructions, with
the exception of a few found sounds, the man deploys
here a wide range of sonic effects to support his melodies
and work on the evocative power of his music. The opening
track very much reveals the tone of this album. From
bold bouncing waves and syncopated beats emerge a broken
arpeggio that evolves almost imperceptibly all the way
through. Marinov mixes crisp digitally processed and
analogue sounds, developing atmospheric structures over
the length of each track. Alternating between straightforward
fast-paced and more laidback and complex compositions,
Esem explores a variety of ambiences and sonic perspectives.
On the perfectly explicit Sofiatram As I Hear It,
perhaps one of the most abstract moments of this record,
Esem uses the basic sample of a tram and processes it
to emphasise on the mechanical nature of the sound source
highlighting in the process the industrial past of his
native country. Although rarely as obvious as this,
found sounds periodically surface to bring tones to
his compositions
More than just a logical follow-up to his first album,
Serial Human shows Esem broadening his musical
horizon as he ventures into more complex sonic terrains.
If this album is not the most innovative record you’ll
hear this year, it remains an interesting piece of work,
based on early nineties electronica yet brought right
up to date with the help of current technology.
3.8/5 |
