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Emeralds, "Just to Feel Anything"
After a major wind-down in their release rate as Emeralds (and a collection of busy solo careers), a new full-length album out of the blue was a bit of a shock but a very welcome one. Never ones to continue to re-tread old ground, Just to Feel Anything continues from where I last encountered them: an exciting live performance over a year ago where they had left most traces of their significant recording career behind.
"Before Your Eyes" has all the trappings of the '80s nostalgia fests that seem to pop up amongst hipsters with alarming regularity but has a major difference: it actually carries some serious weight. A chunky bass line drives the piece as spectral synths create a neon haze around it. This is the sort of stuff that the first generation of Krautrockers attempted to do but never managed to pull off. Kraftwerk, the only ones who fully embraced the melodic and rhythmic capabilities of synthesisers in a way that has not become dated, are channelled in the chunky beats and intricate harmonic patterns of "Adrenochrome." However, Emeralds move beyond imitation through their deft use of layering to create a living cosmos in place of Kraftwerk’s simple, clockwork arrangements. Add some solar flares in the form of Mark McGuire’s guitar lines and this becomes some truly phenomenal stuff.
The three of them let rip on "Everything is Inverted," a storming piece of crystalline perfection. Here the main differences in aesthetic between old Emeralds and where they are now are amplified as they move from slurred, droning works which, although beautiful, felt nihilistic towards a futuristic, sharp and defined sound which screams with absolute ecstasy. Even when they slow down the proceedings with pieces like "Through and Through" and "The Loser Keeps America Clean," the mood is more along the lines of Luc Ferrari’s joyous experimentation with sound than Throbbing Gristle’s grimy assaults on the senses.
Just to Feel Anything closes with the tremendous and delicate "Search for Me in the Wasteland," where McGuire forms blankets of guitars (electric and acoustic) between which Steve Hauschildt and John Elliott weave threads of gossamer thin hums and drifting euphonic tones. Listening to this piece in particular, I feel the same thrill as I did the first time I listened to Solar Bridge or Does It Look Like I’m Here? as Emeralds capture the magic once again. Just to Feel Anything succeeds in not only transforming what it is Emeralds does but also in completely winning my affection all over again (even though it never waned).
 
