Manual - Ascend
(Morr)
The cover art of Ascend immediately reminds you of Fennesz's Endless Summer, giving the listener a starting point to Manual's music before the cellophane has even been unwrapped. While the two artists have much in common, the man behind Manual, Jonas Munk, did not spend his childhood listening to the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones. No, as evidenced in Ascend, Munk grew up listening to Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, and other shoegaze bands. Thus, the pop references that Munk injects into his techno/laptop/electronica are not so much bright and melodic as they are shimmering, droning, and ethereal.
This marriage of shoegaze and electronica may seem like an awkward one as shoegaze was never about beats or anything rigid, however Ascend manages to mix the two concepts well, perhaps because the combination is more of a mixture than a blend. Leadoff track "Midnight is Where the Day Begins" is a beautiful example of this mixing of the two sounds. The song starts off as pure electronica: some blips, a lot of bleeps, several counter-rhythms, and a slow melody. The song slows down in the middle, filtering out all the beats, mellowing down the song to prepare the listener for the more expansive final section to the song where waves of effected shoegazing guitar wash over a bed of clicking beats.
The next track, "Astoria," continues the shoegaze bent to Manual's sound, and here the use of those sounds is a bit more creative than the repetitive waves of tone of the previous track. In this song, wisps of amorphous tone create a melancholic melody that is underpinned by a steady beat and a short, glinting keyboard riff. This melody, however, develops at a very deliberate pace; a subtle nuance that takes several listens to fully appreciate.
Also outstanding is the more electronica-based "Keeps Coming Back," which closes the album. After a quiet, slow, building introduction, a cacophony of buzzing beats breaks the song, leading into a section of organ-like keyboard melody. The melody quickly recedes, leaving a quiet drone and wide open space. Instead of lulling the listener towards the end of the album with this drone, the song explodes shortly thereafter, ending the album with a section that is full of snaps and pops and modulating tones. "Keeps Coming Back" is so good it could very well lead the listener to "keep coming back" to this album.
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