Boris Lelong – fireflies in gondwana

Boris Lelong’s first release for Carpe Sonum situates the listener deep within his particular soundworld, like a passerby taking a multi-hued walk through a phosphorescent topographic ocean. Lelong no doubt is fascinated by various meteorological and oceanic climes, and this marvelous album is at once a metaphorical fascinator and a literal authenticator of many such desirable dreamscapes. The ten-plus minutes twilight synth ’n’ sequencer motion sensors of the excellently coined “Fireflying” is truly just that, and if you close your eyes, it’s easy to conceptualize Lelong’s interlocking beat matrices suggesting the titular insect navigating all manners of thermal updrafts. On “Glowing Worms”, Lelong’s gracefully carved moog and synth lines are abject things of beauty, as the artist seems to craft a warm panoply of gestures, tics, and articulations out of electronics coated in a lush, verdant shade of green. Lelong has managed to tap into a vein of magic realism few can muster, surely not the first time out—that in itself is laudable, and his subtly shifting tone dances, echoing 70s Japanese ambienteers Hiroshi Yoshimura and Ken Ishii, are simply dazzling, a triumph of sonic engineering.

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