Even though this 45-minute long EP doesn't have the words "Bliss Out"printed anywhere, consider this to be Volume 18 of Darla's Bliss Outseries. Manual's Jonas Munk is joined by friend Jess Kahr, and the twohave set the mood of peace and serenity by vast keyboard sounds andvery, very slow movement. A more appropriate term might be "drift out,"as the music is like a beat-less version of the other Manual releaseswith similar synth sounds and simple melodies. It will surely findwelcome ears on anybody who has been following Munk through hisrecordings, both as Manual and with Limp on Morr and the EP on StaticCaravan. It is ambient, in the sense that it makes for great backgroundmusic, but it's not until track five, "Burn," that other sonic,non-musical elements (crickets in this case) are introduced that make aworld of difference. For me, it's elements like the faint sound ofrain, bugs, waves, or whatever plus the right mix of everything thatmakes groups like Mirror perfect the art of quiet music for deeplistening. Without a little bit of bite in the mix, the musicdangerously borders on easy listening. It continues similarly withfaint bells in the following "ICA," and by the final track, "It's Nighton Planet Earth...," the music actually begins to immitate the soundsof the waves coming in off the water. I know this sounds nitpicky, butthere's something about the visual theme that seems to disturb me. Itfeels awkwardly mismatched, as palm tree photos at sunset resemblegeneric postcards or that Mac icon for iPhoto. While they're nice tolook at, I'm not sold on it matching the mood Munk's music has alwaysevoked: as to me, the appropriate absence of unnecessary instrumentsconjures visuions of emptier, more sparse places than this borderlinestock photography. Regardless, it's probably one of the best Bliss Out editions.Read More
