BONOBO – The North Borders
01. First Fires (feat. Grey Reverend)
02. Emkay
03. Cirrus
04. Heaven For The Sinner (feat. Erykah Badu)
05. Sapphire
06. Jets
07. Towers (feat. Szjerdene)
08. Don’t Wait
09. Know You
10. Antenna
11. Ten Tigers
12. Transits (feat. Szjerdene)
13. Pieces (feat. Cornelia)
“Inimitable melodic genius” – That is truly the right description for the sound artist Simon Green aka BONOBO. After almost three years he finally released his sixth longplayer a few days ago – called The North Borders. The album is as stunning and brilliant as its predecessor Black Sands: Genius ambient chill-out music that never gets boring. And of course he got some awesome singers like for example Grey Reverend from THE CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA on board. The North Borders is affected by electronic melodies that seem to flow like a river and all twelve tracks on it belong together – they could be one whole song.
The probably most appreciable piece of the record is Cirrus: it represents BONOBO‘s sound perfectly. The song’s melody is immediately clear after the first few seconds and it indicates the British musician’s most noted trait: first there is only one instrument and then the others appear consecutively. Also noteworthy is the opener First Fires – the track that features the voice of Reverend. It is a really groovy piece to which you simply have to move your body. And the clear voice fits perfectly to the high strings that are combined with the superior electronica sounds. BONOBO‘s The North Borders has got everything a good downbeat album needs: a wide electronic palette, hypnotic melodies and recognizable tunes.
And it is obviously different to so many other chill-out records: it is not just draggy background music but rather heart-warming and ambitious sound art.
––