Altered Zones

By Luke Carrell

Alec Koone is best known as the too-young-to-drink Ithaca undergrad behind the expressive sample work of Balam Acab. As helpful as that information is in establishing some context for the music, half of it won't even be true in a few years. And though already months in the past (or decades, in "blog years"), the underground musical climate surrounding the release of his See Birds EP, his first release using the moniker, was similarly perishable. The mono-mixed EP hit at a time when spacey, dark electronic music was a fresh phenomenon to many listeners and critics. Haters hated, and the buzz grew as artists struggled to differentiate themselves. Micro-genres began to proliferate, bud, bloom, fold in on themselves, die, and generally confuse and perturb. Balam Acab managed to dodge most of the shrapnel, and See Birds, with its arresting title track, continued to gain momentum and win fans with its brand of drone-heavy not-pop, even as Koone himself began to step out from behind his non-persona.

With Wander/Wonder, Balam Acab spreads his usual palette of atmospheres, twisted vocals, and tactful beats across a diverse range of song structures, creating an album that is at once cogent and constantly surprising. W/W carries more emotional weight than its predecessor, and speaks to complex, often contradictory sentiments. Twin tracks "Await" and "Expect" condense an afternoon of love-sick pining into two, convenient little 4'46" packages. "Motion," full of shimmering orchestral samples that would feel at home in a Swedish sample pop track, has a melancholic undercurrent strong enough to counteract its starry-eyed veneer. The homonyms chosen for the title of the album also express the same type of intentional, complementary duality that many of the songs seem to embody.

The much-discussed vocal sample manipulations have gained a heightened drama as well, with the producer opting for less chopping and more operatic flourishes, as exemplified by the slow-burning opener, "Welcome." His vocabulary of basic phrases and phonemes alternately calls to mind warbly pop and infantile cooing; it gives the songs a more distinct structure, and is responsible for the long-from '90s R&B pop tune feel of tracks like "Now Times" and "Oh, Why." The vocals and other breathy exhalations also offer an organic allure, simulatanesouly drawing the ear away from the simply rooted rhythmic and melodic elements, upping the atmosphere, and adding layers of hushed percussiveness. Likewise, the use of splashy reverb and samples of sloshing water complement the more rigid swells and breaks while invoking the liquid-based metaphors that are becoming so ubiquitous in attempts to describe this music. And the H2O only flows more freely as the album goes on. By the time hard-hitting closer "Fragile Hope" comes around, the slow drip has become a steady stream, outlasted only by a final, wistful vocal melody. To continue with the tired metaphor, this album can easily form itself to fill any space, be it a daily commute, special man/lady time, or an afternoon spent staring out a window.

Balam Acab: Selections from Wander/Wonder

Wonder/Wander drops August 30th in LP, CD, and digital formats via Tri Angle Records