Source: Album artwork
It feels a lot like ambient music and post-rock are in quite good places. Despite Mewithoutyou splitting, leaders of the genres like Explosions In The Sky and Godspeed You! Black Emperor are rapidly becoming even more of a cult enjoyment without bothering the mainstream. Riverside’s new double-disc mega album (sitting at nearly two hours long) Eye Of The Soundscape, though being better than the Explosions In The Sky album released this year, is far from the musical, cultural event that other such bands occasionally enjoy with new releases.
Eye Of The Soundscape seems to be an album designed for the listener to sink into, like a massive sofa. The occasionally startling uses of trumpets and rarely utilized vocals go some way to adding a few more textures to the general atmosphere of the album, but for the most part synth & piano lines and clean guitar parts are the staple that is built around.
The over-arching problem with this album is that it is too long by far without really going anywhere. Where bands like Explosions In The Sky and Godspeed You! Black Emperor succeed is in creating lengthy masterpieces that build and fall and take the listener on a journey, whereas Riverside seem perfectly content to stay at home and not go on a journey, just drink some tea and occasionally break out the trumpet.
This lead us to thinking – perhaps this album is not meant to be enjoyed by actually listening to it. Perhaps sitting down and getting fully engaged with it just leaves you too fully exposed to the meandering ambience, and that (as insulting as it sounds) Eye Of The Soundscape is best enjoyed as a piece of background listening. Where the ambient waves can provide an uplifting backdrop without becoming so overbearing as to overrule everything else going on with ambient music that doesn’t go anywhere or create any real emotional connection.
