“Athens’ fairweathered Sound In Silence label has released some of the most kindly music of our last couple years, having slowly expanded their ambient roster outwards into beatwork and bravado. This release from Crisopa sees them break out of their cosy cocoon into the open, beginning with a declarative slice of coveted dance music that overcomes stifled layers and restrained climaxes in service of a big ol’ high.
With a template of twinkling ambient music at its side, this record feels one foot in and the other out on what it wants to be. That’s fine, though: the record lunges beautifully between meditative half-melodies and beat tape tinkering, often imploding both into tracks like “I am the lord of these ruins”, whose textures meld together to create whole bodies of landscape. Those industrial-sized beats, pushed so far back they sound covered in fog, diverge from the swelling violins, parsed close to the listener against what start to feel like pure environmental sound.
Crisopa is making totally serene music, here, and that’s all you need to know: it’s like someone’s taken an Ulrich Schnauss record and put it under the covers with a hot water bottle to its side. Amidst its obscured melodies and distant drumwork, ‘Transhumante’ beats a vital pulse.”