OMEGA dB played 'No Dawt' rather than programmed it. Every sound on the album was performed by hand on hardware, with nothing sequenced in advance. The reference points are composers: when 'Chapter Four' arrived in 2020 he called that album his tribute to Vangelis, Mike Oldfield, Hans Zimmer and Wendy Carlos. Hypersunday released its remix package, and 'Speaking With Machines' before that.
'No Dawt' runs to fourteen tracks and he has put it out himself.
The album opens with the rousing piano crescendos of ‘Perihelion’, which is somewhat reminiscent of a Ludovico Einaudi composition in its majesty and palpable emotion. A very strong start to the LP.
Haunting pads segue us into the next track, ‘Signals in the Smoke Field’, which again is absolutely epic in scale and feeling. Especially when those oscillating synths join the pads on top of a cavernously deep bottom end. The track is an exercise in intensity and resolve, like taking in two gigantic breaths straight from the fabric of the universe, filling you with everything before granularizing to a pinpoint.
We are treated to our first beat as ‘Yin & Yang’ takes the reins. Ambient techno is the order of the day here. The percs offer us the propulsion while those gorgeous twinkles suspend in time around us. It seems as though OMEGA dB is aiming straight for the core of our emotions here, and it is working an absolute treat.
We step into the ‘Silicon Garden’ next, where dreamy pads glisten with dewy digital drops and we traverse through shimmering digital foliage amidst swathes of synthesis. The occasional drum break keeps us on our toes.
‘Pulse of Light’ comes next, and is the longest production on the album at just under ten minutes. We have a broken beat underpinning this one, and again themes of scale and magnitude play throughout the track as layers of sound build upon one another between towering shards of static and hum.
The pull of ‘Fading Gravity’ sees us once again leaving terra firma for something significantly less solid. Distorted chords cling to the air around us as we rise through dense atmospheres, and sonic structures are torn from the ground below us by a cosmic vacuum.
In case you were left wondering, ‘Acid Lines’, which is up next, proffers more than a nod to the more caustic end of the sound spectrum. Its swinging, metallic techno percussion is injecting energy into the track, while those synth lines take care of the hypnosis.
We cross the mid section now, and we take pause for a moment among the beatless haze of ‘Chasing Raindrops’. Just wait for the distorted strings at the end of the track, that again prove to be a truly stirring element of the composition.
Staccato synth stabs and slowly throbbing bottom end are what give the next track, ‘Evolving State’, its sense of order and chaos. Particles of sound align and break apart as the track takes on an organic quality.
‘Eclipse’ whips us off our feet next, as some genuinely exhilarating drum programming takes us for a ride. The deft little breaks in the top end percussion for hand-drummed interludes add fantastic uplift to the track. Up to this point, it is easy to see why OMEGA dB is citing the likes of Oldfield and Carlos as inspo.
‘Always in Bloom’ is exactly that. It continues to flow and unfurl ever outwards in waves of synthetic string swells and beautiful keys. This one reminded us a bit of the M83 track, ‘Outro’, which is serendipitously fitting as this production heralds the final flourishes of this stunning album.
Time to get busy with your feet, as the ‘Catalyst’ creates a momentous reaction within, channelling energy through our limbs to the culmination; a supplicative dance with arms held aloft and dopamine rushing through our synapses for a pleasure release.
We go ‘From Fear to Freedom’ next. The penultimate track on the collection. What starts out with a sense of foreboding (the titular fear) soon becomes a weightless flight through endless synthesized skies.
Finally, we reach the end of our epic journey in the hands and heart of OMEGA dB. The album closes on ‘Aphelion’, and as we reach the point furthest away from the album’s core, we can see it all in its wonder. A truly accomplished work.
Get your drop direct from OMEGA dB on Bandcamp.
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