Petar Dundov - Ideas from the Pond

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  • There's something uncontrived about Petar Dundov's music. It goes from chord change to chord change while always sounding completely natural. Achieving this takes careful consideration, of course. But this is also due to his particularly upfront, '80s indebted style of sound design. Jean-Michel Jarre is a major influence, and like him, Dundov manages to make his collages of harmony very rich, but not indigestible. In other words, Dundov produces unapologetically melodic techno. While Ideas from the Pond might first come across as congruent, in terms of the consistent prominence of synthesizers and their style of programming, Dundov actually travels diverse terrain here, often within the same track. "Distant Shores," for example, starts with an arresting plucking sound that soon has many layers weaving around it. It moves through various stages, building to a complex climax of dramatic, clattering drums and lyrical arpeggios, and then whispers out at the end, like a dream fading away. It's pretty central to his charm that Dundov can hit that kind of effect and and have it not sound trite. This description of "Distant Shores," originally released in 2010 and the only pre-released single on the album, could just as well apply to the entirety of Ideas from the Pond. The individual tracks are microcosms of the whole. This could easily become boring over eighty minutes. But instead, they reinforce each other. The journey—and it does feel like a journey—is extended, fluently. Whether you're gripped for the duration, though, largely depends on whether you're the kind of person who's engaged by the substance of what's washing over you. Ideas is full of detail and tiny motions. The counterpoint to the twinkling melodies is often linear, like in "Silent Visitor." In other places, like on "Brownian Motion," the counterpoint feels more vertical. But what keeps you locked in to Ideas' slow trajectory is Dundov's grasp of emotions. He simply makes you want to stay with the feeling. There are many highs on the album. When "Together" swells it's not an exaggeration to say that the strength of its bittersweet jubilation can elicit a physical feeling. In "Tetra Float," the noises that sound like electrically charged metal crickets have an acutely surreal property, and act on the senses accordingly. The track is a powerfully ethereal 15-minute coda, with the final notes echoing the opening. (Which, incidentally, might just be one of my favourite openings to an album ever.) Ideas from the Pond has a humanity and a clarity of thought that enters boldly, continues as the album unfolds, endures as it quietens to its final sigh, and remains with you long afterwards.
  • Tracklist
      01. Ideas From The Pond 02. Silent Visitor 03. Distant Shores 04. Brownian Interplay 05. Together 06. Around One 07. Tetra Float
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