KODOMO
Frozen In Motion
K002
Kodomo Music 2011
12 Tracks. 43mins58secs

Amazon UK: DLD US: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

The solo project of New York-based artist Chris Child, Kodomo first materialised in the early 2000s with sporadic remixes, but his first proper release came in 2007 with a digital-only single on 5 Points Records, followed a year later with Child’s debut album, Still Life, on the same label. Each one of the nine tracks featured on the album was inspired by a photograph taken in various places around the globe, Child then building on the visual aspect to develop his compositions.

Partly carrying on the theme, the CD version of Kodomo’s second opus, limited to five hundred copies, comes with a series of atmospheric photographs taken by New York-based artist Brian Graf. The idea for Frozen In Motion however stems from a very different aspect of life. Child recorded sounds of every day life and processed them into the various compositions collected here. The resulting tracks, while retaining some of the elements which contributed to Still Life, are more varied and open as Child combines gritty electronics, sweeping soundscapes and acoustic components, and if the mood is fairly subdued throughout, Child’s well defined soundscapes contribute to the album’s overall cinematic feel.

If field recordings are triggers for these tracks, they are often incorporated so tightly within the sonic fabric of a piece that they are at times almost totally unnoticeable. But Child’s purpose is not to try to evoke a particular sound source or recreate a context around it, but for it to serve as a starting point for a composition. His scope is undoubtedly varied here, from the fairly linear structures and sweeping melodies of Hajime, S Equals Zero, Gate 5A or Frozen In Motion, the dreamy textures of Decoder or September Sun to the more rugged rhythmic approach on Drift Three Cycles. This occasionally results in the album lacking clear overall direction, but Child executes each one of these pieces with confidence and manages to maintain the interest all the way through.

Through the second half of the record, Child inserts miniature atmospheric vignettes in between fuller pieces, as if to allow for the mind to pause and reflect on the work. Fragments of conversations and processed environmental noises are scattered over Everything That Comes From The Sea, September Sun, Disapearing Light and Symmetry Unwinding, placed much more in evidence, as if he was himself taking stock of the process adopted, a process which may well have bound the project together tighter if it had been applied throughout. In this second half, there is an interesting balance between haunting atmospherics and textured electronics which creates an element of dreamy tension which suits Child’s music rather well.

Frozen In Motion may at times lack the consistency of its predecessor, but Child appears much more confident here. He is more daring in his sound choices and finds a much more personal voice, away from beaten tracks. The album could have done with a little more thought in its overall structure, but it remains a pretty successful exercise as it is.

3.8/5

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Amazon UK: DLD US: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD