For their third album, Circular ditches the chilly sci-fi ambience and Biosphere references and brings forth a warmer, more organic album than ever before. Theres still some sci-fi movie samples but they're not nearly as pronounced in the mix, and the focus is put squarely on the music itself. A combination of slow and low synth builds and jazzy instrumental touches, there're many layers to this album that aren't immediately apparent on a cursory listen. ~ by sushiPhones
This is Circular's third album, and one that offers a wide variety of electronic music. It beautifully jumps between styles and genres, with influes from Biosphere and other ambient artists, science fiction movies, musique concrete, Arabic music and jazzy atmospheres similar to Angelo Badalamenti's Twin Peaks soundtrack. The whole album relies heavily on sampling and electronic treatment of sounds, and thus falls in the Art of Noise tradition where sound is more important than formal musical structure. That's not to say that the music isn't structured or crafted, which it is. Mostly we are served dishes of ambient structures garnished with cute rythm patterns and weird electronic sounds on the side. Sort of like the ambient brother of another Norwegian act, Sternklang.
Glass Darkly is much less ambient (in the drawn-out drone sense) than their previous album, Divergent, and says clearly that Circular is not an ambient group as such anymore, at least not for this album. Granted, you can play Glass Darkly in the background and experience it's nonintrusiveness, but there are so many nice details and unusual sounds that it's also an album for dedicated listening.
Even though it may be a cliché by now, Glass Darkly is one of those "Arctic ambient" albums, which is typical of Norway, inspite of the band members coming from the West Coast rather than Norway's Arctic areas. But what makes it great is not it's arcticness, but the attention to details and combinations of traditional and unusual sounds, and the way different techniques and styles have been melted into a solid plate of musical food that is both exotic and familiar. This is rarely done with success. ~ by Glenn Folkvord
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