Ethernet - outside of time

Tim Gray, aka Ethernet, debut for Carpe Sonum expands on his two sterling albums for the Kranky label, as if Gray has found a means to tap deep into his imaginative resources, striking gold in the process. Each of the eight pieces here reveal subtle shifts in airmass and density, unveiling multiple striations of tonal variability that muster electronica’s most hypnotic contemporary urges of pulse construct while simultaneously nibbling on the heels of the nu-age. The opening “Dyad” is like a dub-techno base relief cast in Tangerine Dreams of Gas-eous form, it’s arcing atmospheres lighting up the soundfield aurora borealis-style. “Hypnosis” takes an altogether different tack, built on a foundation of Tibetan-bell gamelan that underpins Gray’s deft touch with irising chords snaking across misty mountain hops. And the lengthy trek of “Timeless” is just that, memories suspended upon the epoch-spanning altars of forgotten gods. So what happens here? To paraphrase Dave Bowman, “something wonderful”. A new album inspired by the "timeless" voices of '90s-era synthesizers and ambient music that I grew up listening to, as well as more modern "pop ambient" composition styles, filtered through the Ethernet lens of trance-inducing washes of tones and pulses. It is also intended to invoke a hypnotic state in the listener to carry them "outside of time" for purposes of deep healing and catharsis. The album has a stronger emotional undercurrent than previous Ethernet material, with rich layers of harmonics and evocative melodic passages throughout. 

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