Liquid Divine - Autophobia

Title: Autophobia
Artist: Liquid Divine
Genre: Electronic
Release Date: 30th October 2009
Label: Infacted Recordings



Album Review

In 2000, Guido Stoye and Christian Fritsche started working on a fusion music and word they would be calling LIQUID DIVINE eventually. But it would take another 5 years before a sonic output would be released with the debut album ‘Interface’ on Infacted Recordings. Quite frankly, this is an album that’s still hard for me to get into. The follow-up ‘Black Box’ released in 2007, however, would become one of my favourites of the year and fully convinced me. More than 2 years have passed ever since in which the duo worked pretty hard on their third album ‘Autophobia’ which is now very close to its release.

With an (acoustic) bass loop laced to a straight electronic beat, the album opener ‘Fallen Men’ first fools you into thinking this might turn out as fusion of electronics with rock in the further course, but that sound succumbs to the cunning electronic layering and dissolves eventually. At this point, an atmosphere takes hold that had me thinking the sun had set forever and Guido’s slightly alienated vocals bearing sort of a bitter, hopeless timbre aren’t made to dissipate that impression either. ‘Planet Zoo’ seeks sound-wise inspiration in the past which ultimately results in a kind of classic, a bit 80s-like sound of the edgy drum patterns on the track. Lyrically, it seems there’s an observer looking at different characters with their respective fates and idiosyncrasies. I’m not sure what to make of this picture as yet, but the lyrical content of LIQUID DIVINE never was easy to decrypt and I like challenges

Time for the first of two guest vocal appearances on ‘Autophobia’! Frank M. Spinath, known by EDGE OF DAWN and SEABOUND, lends his vocal talents to ‘Sojourner’ starting with children playing as a backdrop to ambient washes soon to be melded with a distinct bass line. Though I see the obvious club qualities the song has, and would wish to hear it in that circuit, I think that the 1 minute before the beat starts might be already too long for many dance floor affine people. But there’s still the chance of a club edit. Anyway, it’s still a great song. ‘Ghost’ in some way opens the door to a metaphysical realm of existence. Sometimes it feels like a deceased is talking to a loving person that somehow keeps a part of him/her tied to this world “Stop loving me and close the door”; other times the perspective tends to shift. Musically, the track drops tempo significantly though being still backed by a strong rhythm section of interspersed layers and distortion effects.

Additionally, it works with orchestral swellings and sustained drifts of foggy atmospherics creating incredibly dense moods intertwining with the lyrics. ‘Want’ draws on contrasts. You could describe it as a divided soul with each half trapped in a specific emotional state. The first half’s full of anger and fury and underlined with dirty, humiliated beats; the other one is calmed, tranquil and speaks with a brittle voice. Its theme is the melancholia of the piano. Elements of both then come together in the chorus with a predominating mournful mood. In the nearly 8 minutes long album closer ‘One Day of May in '99’, the vocalist travels backwards in time and his memories. It’s as if he’s recalling articles from newspapers about tragic incidents all involving children. The atmosphere is scarred by hopelessness, sadness and resignation, feelings finding a sonic manifestation in plaintive piano, chiming bells and an orchestral backdrop.

I had quite high expectations regarding ‘Autophobia’ after the duo’s last album ‘Black Box’ and what shall I say, they excelled all of them with the new record! Still, melancholia is a foundation in all their compositions only that this time it seems thicker and more permeating than ever before. The sound has audibly matured and expanded with deeper nods into experimental realms which can be heard on ‘Frontend’ for instance. Lyrically, there’s also much to discover and unravel again so that everyone, no matter if they’re sound or lyric fanatics will find enough to keep them listening to the album for a long time.


Tracklist

01. Fallen Men - 5:09
02. Planet Zoo - 3:57
03. Sojourner (feat. Frank M. Spinath) - 5:14
04. Ghost - 4:34
05. IHuman - 6:13
06. Cocoon - 4:34
07. Frontend - 5:40
08. Comagirl (feat. Yrea) - 4:50
09. Astronauts - 4:09
10. Want - 4:00
12. One Day of May in '99 - 7:50


Line-up

Guido Stoye - Words, Vocals, Songwriting
Christian Fritzsche - Music, Songwriting, Arrangement, Production


Website

http://liquiddivine.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/liquiddivine


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 9
Sound: 9
Extras: -
Total: 9 / 10


{jos_sb_discuss:19}