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Rhythmic Symphony is the musical vision of one Justin Kesselring, who hails from the US of A & this is his debut album. Even if you knew nothing about the artist it's pretty obvious where he comes from as his voice has that sort of wholesome quality so beloved of such artists as Color Theory & Intuition. Fortunately, Justin manages to better these two artists by giving his music a more varied &, at times, more imaginative outlook with the fractured rhythms & analogue leads that grace 'Whisperings' being the most obvious example & which prevent the album from sounding too 'nice'. In the case of the uplifting 'Self_Possessed' at least part of the credit must go to the production work of The Echoing Green's Joey Belleville & anyone familiar with the work of The Green will find many similarities here, not least in the case of 'Fighting Gravity' with its sparkling main theme & the slower 'Liquid Sky' which benefits from a sultry blend of understated synth & soaring voice. Clocking in at over six minutes, it's possible to really savour the atmosphere that Kesselring lays down on what is the album's stand-out piece. Some might find the romantic christmassy feel of 'Learning To Trust' a bit too sickly sweet but, on a musical level, the sumptuous backing of synth & sustained harmonised voices (a la 10CC's I'm Not In Love) indicates a laudable desire to add a more imaginative element to his music; even so, the closing 'Words Unspoken' is far more effective due to the bittersweet air that makes this the perfect track for the broken-hearted! In contrast, the many danceable numbers prove his versatility, among them are the future pop-flavoured 'Darkness Rising' as well as 'Dead Survivors' which is surprisingly light & poppy; true there is some emotive content in the theme (albeit nothing befitting such a sombre-sounding title!) & while the rhythms sound like they could have been lifted from a late 80s bubblegum pop number but it all works well enough in contrast to 'Too Afraid' which treads a similar furrow but is forgettable in the extreme while the understated, almost dream-like atmosphere that graces 'Shards Of Scarlet' is vaguely reminiscent of the dreamier end of 90s house & is another fine offering on an album that should appeal to both diehard synthpoppers as well as those who enjoy their electronic music with a human touch. |
