Narrator – Depart On All Sides

When Narrator decided to drop a surprise album they had been sitting on for nearly a year, I was taken aback. Truth be told, I would have been satisfied with even a collection of random B-sides from the elusive trio. Instead, Depart On All Sides confronted me with the band’s most cohesive collection of ornate ambient music yet.

The insistence of each individual track is remarkable, but the slow growth throughout the record, like a time-lapse of a germinating seed, is what clinches the cathartic sensation. In the past, Nathan Springer (Floral Print), Nicholas Lowery (Mono Lisa), and Scott Irvine treated Narrator as a laboratory, a community in which anything goes and a few things stick. Here the time taken to perfect and mix the tracks is evident, and throughout the record, the random ideas are neatly distilled into songs which glow with near-professional artistry.

The seven tracks contain a mix of dense ideas which unfurl with repeat listens. Within this density is a gentleness that invokes the soundscape mastery of Robert Fripp without entering the abysmal realm of documentary soundtrack. The subtle diversity of the album begins with the slow-burning “Technicolor Afterlife.” The demonstrative track is full of mellow builds and ever-persistent feedback that grows into a pressurized roar by the end of the song. The most successful compositions on the record are the busiest, particularly “Arrived At All Times.” If beep-boop music could ever be described as sensitive, this track is the evidence. The intimacy is as striking as it is otherworldly, like cyborg lovers gazing longingly into each other’s eyes.

There is no waste on this record, no extraneous pulse or leftover note. Curiosity grows into familiarity within this sensory palace, and to top it all off, the organic coherence of Depart On All Sides makes it nearly impossible to only listen to one or two tracks. In truth, why would you want to?

Depart On All Sides is available now as a free download via Bandcamp.

More Info
Bandcamp: narrating.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @narratornarrating