Nanotopia is the adventurous debut release from Circular. With its highly unusual and twisted angles of sound, Nanotopia presents a futuristic vision from a different world. Comparable to Orb and Future Sound of London.
First track Organic Access is the longest tune on the album, running for almost twelve minutes. It starts with scary sounds and effects before a certain melody line and rhythm enter. The music is filmic with a peculiar string-sample, but the song offers little development and is not very original or exciting. Towards the end of the track a really bizarre part enters - a girl band singing Neil Young's Rockin' In The Free World in the background! I would really like to know what the thought was behind that part. Surface Scan is next, it's a flowing Biosphere-inspired tune co-written by Erik Manshaus, rhythm and sequencer enter, before an interesting electric guitar-sample appears in the soundscape. Sound effects closes the track that is in the typical ambient genre where we also find artists like Future Sound Of London and The Orb. Track 3 Sequent is based on sound collages and is not exactly easy on the ear, before Gateway starts with a fresh rhythm and an up-tempo repeated part that sounds like the soundtrack to a big city of the future. A bit alien but nevertheless danceable.
Thorazine is atonal and scary, would have suited a horror movie well, but it's a demanding listen. Harmony returns with the next track Sedated, with a certain Erik Wøllo-feel before the tune becomes more "busy". Melody lines and a wondering theme make the song immediately more interesting than several other tracks. Being is the shortest tune on the disc. It starts with sounds, samples and rhythms, but suddenly Circular decide that they want to surprise the listener once more and incorporates a jazz theme! The album closes with the title track, which is possibly the best track on the CD. It's a melancholic and sad melody, once more the Wøllo-feel enters, waves crushes towards the beach and a voice sample appears. The tune is very different from the rest of the album, and it shows that Circular is perfectly capable of making interesting music.
Nanotopia is an album that demands an active listener, if not, the music may become frighteningly anonymous. It's not an album without flaws, but it's another interesting document in the history of electronic music from Norway. ~ by Jon Aanensen
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