stereodyssey - memory bank

Stereodyssey

Memory Bank
self-released; 2013

3.7 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

The first thing I thought about as I was listening to the new album entitled Memory Bank by Stereodyssey was that it would be perfect for art films or even sci-fi. The music on this album begs for cinematic visuals to be a part of the experience as the songs often veer towards atmosphere more than substance. With that being said there is still plenty here that you can enjoy that displays the surplus of talent this one-man project creates. The music is often cloudy, grand and blissful. It is rather simple (not a bad thing) in that it relies only on a couple of sparsely played notes to create these soundscapes that rarely change much in any given song. Instead the melodies are usually treated with additional layers that add to the visceral impact of the music.

We start off the album with “Slow Projection” which manipulates sine wave as notes shift glissando style to create a bed of frequencies that are warm and inviting. The song lasting under two minutes ends before it begins and is a piece that seems perfectly fine staying in homeostasis. “In Clouds” is a bit more substantial in that the song has more momentum not only in the drums that present themselves but the music itself. I felt the drums added some energy but not exactly the right kind. The drums felt a bit too live behind the blissful serenity and created an odd dichotomy. I would have preferred to hear the live sounding set combined with an electronic kit. Luckily, he makes better choices on “Dark Matter” in which the kit and percussion sound much more at home and instead of creating separation attenuate the music. The song slips and swirls across the netherworld and proves itself to be one of the highlights on the music. “Into Existence” slowly sprawls as mountainous pads create epic sounds not unlike something you would hear from M83.

The album closes with it centerpiece “Another World” which also happens to be the most kinetic as the BPM is increased and feels a bit more grounded on earth (not much) then in the heavens. Memory Banks is a solid album of ambient material that should have all the filmmakers reading this give this guy a call. I’m interested to see how his skills develop and grow with future releases.

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