Album Review: Children Of The Wave - The Electric Sounds Of Far Away Choirs

Sensory Projects have aligned themselves with some brilliant releases throughout the past 24 months, and this second LP from Children Of The Wave is another exultant notch on the bedpost. The Electric Sounds Of Far Away Choirs is an aural blueprint of the traipsing minds of Dan Flynn (aka Major Chord) and Mark Rayner, touching on globetrotting exploration and sonic invention and imagination, resulting in nine tracks that meld together like a fine gossamer web. 

Such an immersive whole is an amazing feat in itself considering the instruments (bullroarer, kora, Moog, sitar) and field recordings (tunnels, rainforests, suburban backyards) that it traverses. Such melding of influences and origins could be a cacophonous experiment in noise, yet instead settles upon the listener like a glistening high, transporting from the cool calm of the damp rainforest floor to being submerged in an ice-cold, clear waterhole to the warmth of a springtime sun with grace. There are tracks such as Come Play Frolic that envelop, the textures meshing together before drifting off into the hazy distance, while others like I Defy You babble along on their own dishevelled rhythm, neither apologetic about its complicated reverie nor offensive for its seemingly haphazard production, and it's all the more accessible because of it.

The energy and verve the duo brings to these songs helps them to transcend the potential tropes of instrumental music and field recordings, instead helping to craft a constellation of sounds that hypnotise and enthral.