San Francisco based musician Tim Arndt brings his Near the Parenthesis project to n5MD with the release of his second album "Of Soft Construction." This sophomore effort finds Arndt luring his potent song writing capabilities to the forefront yielding something truly exceptional. Spiraling piano sonnets are juxtaposed against sweeping cascades of grainy synth-washes and agile, yet carefully executed, beat-work. Add in an occasional mid radio station listen-in on a seemingly unfinished conversation and you have an idea of "Of Soft Construction's" perfected audible DNA. Near the Parenthesis has proven that he is yet another artist to capture the n5MD ethos in its truest most honest form..

angryape

San Francisco's Near The Parenthesis offers up a real lesson in restraint on his sophomore release "Of Soft Construction", blending a sound that floats gently somewhere between Boards of Canada's nostalgic textures and Bola's euphoric, melodic style. The project of Tim Arndt, his compositions are as welcome as a light ocean breeze during a scorching hot day and seem to reflect the calm deep blue waters of the album's beautiful cover.

His gentle, undulating brand of electronica is laden with over-lapping, celestial melodies that ebbs with discreet samples of radio station crackles, chilled chatter and distant playground sounds.

Highlights are plentiful, from the sentimental "Open Sources" to the timeless "Mare Nostrum", a track that creates a feeling of being suspended and almost motionless. "Sitting in a Room" raises the tempo slightly, with throbbing synth bass and reinforced beats. But it is still gift-wrapped in gorgeous echoic chimes. Much of the album runs like this, with beautiful tones cascading like a waterfall amidst the soft rhythms, evident on tracks such as the dream-like "Trailing" and "The Language Explosion".

With crisp production, complimented by cushioned synth pads and lightly distorted samples, "Of Soft Construction" runs like a tranquil soundtrack for those who prefer to sidestep the hustle and bustle of everyday life. exclaim!

San Francisco’s Tim Arndt is the man behind Near the Parenthesis, a whirlwind of soft electronic creations and patchwork sound. Though he’s played in a number of conventional bands over the years, Arndt has been continuously dabbling with experimental music. Of Soft Construction, Near the Parenthesis’ second full-length album, is composed of fragile sounds, all emotionally interconnected, creating a haunting nostalgia. The album is comparable to works by Boards of Canada, as it constructs emotionally charged ambient music that cascades throughout the tracks, inviting and enveloping the listener all in one shot. Of Soft Construction skilfully blends serene synths, as remote bass slowly finds its way into the mix. The result is a poised mixture of layered notes, sounds and ideas coming together to produce an eclectic array of passionate songs. Arndt puts a focus on full instrumental compositions, which perfectly complements the airy soundscape of Of Soft Construction. textura

San Francisco-based Tim Arndt made a strong impression with his mid-2006 Near The Parenthesis debut Go Out and See (Music Made By People) and now extends the album's luminescent character to the equally solid Of Soft Construction. The collection's ‘emotional electronic' style is quintessential n5MD: deeply-layered material teeming with delicate piano melodies, glistening electronic atmospheres, quietly propellant beats, and occasional voice and radio station samples. Eleven finely-wrought and lustrous transporting lullabies are the result, with nine in the five-minute range and a couple of lovely placid interludes breaking the flow. A veritable wonderland of clicking beats and warm tones resounds amidst ripples of electronic gleam in “Trailing” while “Sitting in a Room” rather anomalously adds bass-heavy funkiness to the sparkling flow. Throughout this sophomore Near The Parenthesis effort, Arndt assembles mobile masses that, interestingly, are simultaneously heavy, in their density, and airy, in their brightness. etherreal

Après un premier album sur Music Made By People, Near the Parenthesis se trouve signé par n5MD, maison plus ou moins spécialisée dans ce « post-rock électronisé » qu’affectionne le musicien de San Fransisco.

De fait, dès les deux morceaux d’ouverture (It’s not even midnight et Mare Nostrum), on retrouve une batterie électronique, de lumineuses lignes de guitare, des composants synthétiques scintillants et quelques bribes de samples vocaux. Pour autant, Tim Arndt ne se cantonne pas à ce genre, certes brillant, mais un rien facile par moments ; en effet, l’États-unien peut aussi s’aventurer vers des terrains dépourvus de ces parties mélodiques entraînantes de guitare et plus orientés vers une ambient cajoleuse (The Language Explosion). Passant d’un registre à l’autre, mais aussi capable d’aller vers une electronica plus traditionnelle (Open Sources), Near the Parenthesis nous livre alors un album très agréable.

Bercé par des six-cordes souvent séductrices, parfois plus mélancoliques, on évolue effectivement dans un mélange de chaleureuse douceur et d’avenante modernité (les sonorités contemporaines de This Morning mises au service d’une atmosphère accueillante). Un rien trop respectueux, toutefois, des différents éléments qu’il utilise, manquant peut-être un peu de prise de risque et de liberté à l’égard des composants de ses morceaux, Near the Parenthesis livre pour autant, avec Of Soft Construction, un album très convaincant et qui s’insère, avec grâce et réussite, dans le catalogue de n5MD. the music lobby

I'll admit that I first discovered this artist on the n5MD's One Five Zero compilation. Getting the entire album was a smart move! This carefully produced instrumental electronic album, accompanied by detailed beats and perfectly measured bass, with sweeps of transforming pads, cycling dynamics of piano, and occasional field recordings of distant voices, deliver all jonesing aspects of Electronica (is that still a genre?), placing Tim Arndt, along the likes of Gridlock, Helios, Yasume, and Seven Ark. This San Francisco artist skillfully applies the formula that can never get too old for me. Just when I thought the world was drifting away from the overused elements, an album like this falls in my lap and stirs up all the good memories. For a free ride, check out Arndt's contribution towards Sutemos on Intelligent Toys Vol 4. cyclic defrost

With an extensive background spent playing ‘conventional’ instruments such as piano and guitar in various bands, San Francisco-based electronic producer Tim Arndt attracted considerable critical acclaim for his 2006 debut album as Near The Parenthesis Go Out And See on Canadian imprint Music Made By People, which showed him focussing on purely instrumental compositions equally evocative of both downbeat IDM and shoegazer slow-core rock. Given the delicate and deeply emotional nature of Arndt’s music as Near The Parenthesis, it’s certainly no surprise to see him smoothly slotting in amongst the n5MD label’s established gentle aesthetic for this second album Of Soft Construction. Opening track ‘It’s Not Even Midnight’ provides a good taste of the sorts of delicate and melancholic moods that predominate throughout the eleven tracks collected here, with its glacially wistful opening synth pads giving way to a slow, blurred-out wash of programmed drums and subtly-placed, ebbing guitar elements; indeed, so smooth is the fusion of instrumental and synthetic elements that it calls to mind the post-rock sphere as equally as anything tagged ‘IDM.’

‘Mare Nostrum’ meanwhile sees elegantly stark piano notes take centre stage as flickering programmed rhythms trace a path over the reverb-drenched harmonics, with the addition of feathery guitar textures and reversed / looped samples contributing a vaguely psychedelic vibe that’s nicely capped off by the sampled background chatter that flits through the mix. ‘The Language Explosion’ sees the highly-detailed synthetic elements moving closer to the forefront as crackling textures and shimmering piano tones take proceedings out into one of this album’s more decidedly IDM-centred inclusions, in an offering that calls to mind Boards Of Canada and Bola’s crystalline melancholia, before ‘Open Sources’ gets deeper and darker, placing brooding bass pads beneath its ticking clockwork rhythms and feathery, harp-like treated guitars. Depending on your own personal leanings, the fact that Arndt pretty much restricts himself to the same sorts of melancholic themes throughout Of Soft Construction’s 56 minutes can be alternately viewed as thematic cohesion or lack of variation; either way, fans of his preceding Go Out And See album should be delighted with this follow-up. papercuts

Tim Arndt avait fait une entrée remarquée sur la scène electronica lors de la sortie de Go Out and See sur le label canadien The Noise Made by People en 2006. L'aventure continue à présent aux côtés de n5MD, producteur particulièrement friand de délicatesses synthétiques tissées avec émotion.

IDM tendant vers le shoegaze, flirtant avec le post-rock le plus minimaliste, la musique de Near The Parenthesis serait voisine d'un Helios ou autre Deaf Center tout en ayant sa propre empreinte, sa propre vision de ce qu'un soleil polaire pourrait évoquer.

Cette magie que de poser un casque sur ses oreilles et de contempler la ville autrement, le calme s'installe, un ralenti bienveillant hante le vertigineux tourbillon de mouvements. Oui, il s'agit d'une bande son idéale pour déambulations. Pourquoi?

La production souligne avec délicatesse une profusion de petits détails, froissements métalliques, grésil picotant le visage. De ces touches de froid baigné de lumière, sorte de scintillement solaire sur une mer gelée. Une écoute attentive permet de relever toutes ces subtilités et de les apprécier tout en se laissant porter.

On pense à une paisible succession de vagues, on s'enveloppe de la chaleur des plages denses et vaporeuses qui apportent tant de douceur à l'ensemble. Il n'est que la métaphore pour parvenir à définir ces sonorités. Near The Parenthesis constitue un petit univers brillant et réconfortant qui mérite grandement d'être découvert.

8 comments so far (post your own)