Label: Music From Memory – MFM068 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album Country: Netherlands Released: 2024 Genre: Electronic Style: Ambient
Mesmerising multi-referential super-fusions from local super-talent and huge friend of the shop Contours.
Now approaching four years old, some may remember Contours’ humble self-released Balafon Sketches cassette and subsequent locally-brewed record issue via Net Of Gems. Without a doubt it’s an UBER classic for us which really established Tom’s acomplished compositional talents and deft ability in genre-compounding. Elevations (snagged by European mega-label Music From Memory) feels like the natural follow-up and further exploration of this fertile intersection between the percussive, spiritual, synthetic and organic. It’s a fluid, perfectly balanced array of Reich-schooled minimalism, sweltering 4th world atmospheres and precise electronics, mixed with a dubwise attitude and attuned ear for classical temperament. It’s an ambitious blend that’s certainly been attempted by others before, with mixed results - often too stuffy, too stiff, too polite or too wild. But here, Contours maintains a unique equilibrium where every element compliments the other. The heady ‘Elevation’ triptych feels like an ode to Midori Takada’s tropical explorations with Mkwaju Ensemble, whilst ‘Pots’ stalks deeper depths still with its Muslimgauze style hand-drumming lubricating languid horn notes recalling Don Cherry at his most stoned. It’s hard not to fall for this one. (Mint / New - with free DL).
