Track Listing

1. Sleepless
2. These European Cities
3. Through Glass
4. Buildings and People
5. Suburb 27
6. Inter
7. A Temporary Life

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3616 in Music
• Released on: 2006-03-14
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
What goes around comes around ambient. That's the message from a third generation of electronica artists who were just leaving the womb when Brian Eno's early works were being diffused in the 1970s. They were barely teens when the Orb rolled forth in the '90s. But new artists like Boards of Canada, the Album Leaf, and Explosions in the Sky are taking those early ambient primers and adding geometries of glitch and dream guitar to the mix, creating a melodic brand of ethereal music with an edge. Marconi Union, a Manchester duo, follow suit on a CD that travels in cinematic melancholy and textural malaise. Their songs build slowly, emerging out of a flattened landscape of static and stillness to attain a quietly triumphal beauty. Percussion is almost subliminal in journeys that pulse more than groove. It sometimes gets ominous, with an ostinato bass growl prowling through a Blade Runner landscape on "Inter." But usually they generate a quiet awe, like the slow build of "Sleepless." Expect to hear tracks from Distance in soundtracks and commercials near you soon. --John Diliberto

Album Description
Marconi Union is a reclusive electronic duo from Manchester, England. Their sound has been described as "a post rock cinematic orchestra." Distance, their first U.S. release, is unique, individual and timeless, fusing acoustic sounds, strings and pianos with electronica, post-rock guitars and even occasional nods towards jazz and dub. Described by the band as "a soundtrack to a film that has not yet been made," listening to Distance evokes the feeling of being driven silently around an unknown city at night, observing the activity and life of the urban sprawl in safety and isolation.

Customer Reviews

Excellent ambient work
According to the dotca.co.uk Web site, "Distance" was conceived as a sort of soundtrack to a nighttime journey through an urban environment in the safe isolation of an automobile. The music is soft and the arrangements are sparse. The instrumentation is mostly guitar and electronic keyboards, other than the saxophone on the final track "A Temporary Life." The music is built on the typical ambient foundations - repeated loops, washes of sound, and so forth.

The appropriately named opening track "Sleepless" is deceptively gentle, but as you listen more closely you realize that beneath the calm surface there is also a restless, anxious edge to the track. "Distance" strikes a balance between sustaining a mood and employing melodies. A good example of this is "These European Cites." At first it seems to be nothing more than a gentle loop with synthesizer swells, but halfway through a beautiful melody (played on a guitar) is added.

Listening to Distance is pure pleasure. It would be hard to pick a favorite track because the effect of each track is cumulative. As for comparisons (always a risky business), fans of Brian Eno (it's released on his All Saints label) and Harold Budd would probably find Marconi Union enjoyable as well.

Really grew on me
When I first got this, I dimissed it as minimalist noodling. Now, weeks later, it is one of my favorite selections on my ipod. This grows on you. You can't bring any preconceptions to it and you have to let it work its magic on you. Try it as background when you are driving during rush hour, try it with some good headphones, try it when you want to chill out. This is understated, yes, but put together with skill and intelligence. Very good, quiet ambient pieces.

re: Celestial Melodies Great Work Album
This album resonates with beauty... the music provides you with a very thought provoking journey. If you want to transcend your current time and place, just put this album on and you will be transported by the delicate yet etheral melodies.. it is an album with tremendous beauty. I cannot recommend a album more, it relaxes me and gives me insight into what I am doing. Absolutely fantastic album to listen to while at work...