Album Review: Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory - Elements Of Light

Oslo, Norway is a charming place for a spot of lunch and a chill. My experience however was nowhere near as profound as that of techno alchemist Hendrik “Pantha du Prince” Weber, who whilst munching and chatting overheard a bell carillon distantly chiming away in the City Hall. It inspired Weber to compose a whole album's worth of material for this ancient Chinese instrument that's essentially fifty bells dangling from a trestle.

It might sound like an eccentric one-off. Or it might sound as if Weber's lost his marbles and should stop hanging out with crackpot Norwegians and their archaic, over-sized toys and instead concentrate on making another gleaming accomplishment to compliment his beautiful Black Noise album. Not so. Repeated listens keep on throwing up rewards, as the unfolding layers of bell tones supplemented by Weber's signature electronics resonate together into one undulating whole. Photon is immediately catchy, but generally, the hypnotic effects are best felt on longer compositions, such as the seventeen minute Spectral Split, where each element (ooh - the irony) combines into a transcendental whole, driven by a dull, throbbing sub-bass and yopped with vibraphone like plonks. 

This is real trance music. Not your glow-stick waving, lowest common denominator floor-fodder, but music that sneakily slips you into an alternate state somewhere in between waking and dreaming. Before you know, you're staring dead-eyed into nowhere unable to remember what it was you were doing. Not recommended for activities such as driving/surgery/bomb disposal, but great for anything else.