Ambient and Pop Meet
R. D. Waters | Newton, NC United States | 02/05/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Chris Zippel has worked with numerous artists including Robbie Williams, Pet Shop Boys, Maya Saban, among others, including soundtrack work. His solo work has been described variously as "nu ambient" and "upbeat ambient." I think the latter is more accurately descriptive or you might even call it "pop ambient." There are plenty of fine bass grooves and beats, layered ambient sounds, and spacey vocals (spoken and sung).
"Around, Arrived" kicks off the set with soft washes of sound underpinned by a decidedly funky beat. Zippell introduces a nice melodic string line about a quarter of the way into the piece. I have mixed feelings about the spoken bit introduced midway (contributes little in my mind), but we're back to the excellent beat and melody in short order. "Again" is a strong, melodic piece; the vocals introduced near the end are somewhat unexpected but work well.
"Truth is..." is a sequencer piece with soft-spoken words that passes along pleasantly. "As Possible" features strong vocals by Baschin (too bad there are no notes included on the collaborators) that reminds me a little bit of Delirium. "Glacier" heads into dub and jazz territory - terrific bass sound on this cut. The next cut, "Blade," is the least successful track. For one thing the melody line is very ordinary which makes its length of six minutes work against it. We encounter more questionable decisions with the eight-minute "Particle." In this case I think the beat works against the tune. It would have been better had it been a pared down, straight ambient piece.
We're back on more solid footing with "Red River" and the closing track "HD Archive." The former is a downbeat piece that builds to a climax with multiple guitar tracks. The latter continues the chilled feel and closes the CD on a high note. Despite the few criticisms, I like Zippel's work and look forward to his next release."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1