Sounds like…

The chill out sound you’d make between slow blinks of an eye.

The review

‘Suspended Animation’ is the new album from Rinnovare that was six years in the making. He created various different memories of tracks from different locations as a slow burning project waiting to spark into life. Much like its title, the music explores the calmness between moments. The blink of an eye. The rest functions of sleep. The moment just before you awake.

Mixing classical instruments, post-rock guitar whines and some chill-out beats, Rinnovare sets the scene with ‘Breed’. It is a cinematic opener that a showcase of the distant vocal ooh’s, post-rock guitar wanes and synths that drone and soar in equal measure. As the album progresses, each track brings its own airy ethereal vibe. Some feature some beautiful strings, others are more electric piano based and some pull towards an orchestral drone instead. The whole idea is that the music evokes suspended animation – as if you are dormant. This is great for providing artistic ways to reimagine drone music but if you aren’t into sleepy drone textures, you’ll struggle to get into the piece of work as a whole.

The standout track is the finale, ‘Capillary’. Whilst I didn’t feel like I was inside my own bloodstream, the noises feel like you reanimating as instrument after instrument creaks into life and pulsates again. From lush strings to throbbing beats and a haunted distant choir of voice, it really hits the mark. Other special mentions are for the dramatic ‘Quilted Multiverse’ with its smudged post-rock guitars and drums rocking out in slow motion; and the beautiful ‘Luna (In her Realm)’ which offers up a contemporary classical beast. Fans of the usual Nordic composers will adore this piece.

Perhaps a little too esoteric at times, Rinnovare manages to merge the drone world with the classical and the post-rock in an inventive and textured way. If you enjoy chilled out, peaceful synth clad modern classical music that has some heavy texture to it, you’d do well to check out ‘Suspended Animation’. Best played last thing at night.

Recommended track: Capillary

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