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Midnight Moodswings and Seiswork: The Dopamine Recursive

According to their succinct but intriguing biography Midnight Moodswings, "is an increment from the confusion and seclusion that "Radio for the Daydreamers" have created. Imaginary people, playing imaginary instruments."That's helpful isn't it? Erm…no. The Dopamine Recursive features nine experimental, ambient, enigmatic tracks which could easily be a film soundtrack from any number of Avant-garde European film makers. Crucially the music which for me conjures up a sense of movement and journeys is fluid and allows the listener to create their own meaning and visualise whatever they feel when they are listening. "A Good Place" veers dangerously close to the middle of the road but otherwise this is dreamy yet powerful.


Track Listing:

  1. The Floor Is
  2. A Good Place
  3. Interlude- Numb As Numbers
  4. To Sleep
  5. When You Cannot
  6. Interlude- Alas! Time Never Flies
  7. Tell The Difference
  8. Between Night And Day
  9. Outro- My Problem With Daylight

Added: September 21st 2013
Reviewer: Simon Bray
Score:
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 2102
Language: english

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Midnight Moodswings and Seiswork: The Dopamine Recursive
Posted by Steven Reid, SoT Staff Writer on 2013-09-21 10:19:12
My Score:

Sometimes the environment in which you listen to an album plays a large bearing on exactly how you connect with it, something The Dopamine Recursive is certainly afflicted by. Headphones are preferable, but if not possible, isolation and the opportunity for full concentration are a must. Car journeys, background music, a soundtrack to your day, none of these make good bedfellows for what Midnight Moodswings And Seiswork create. But then they already knew that...

Electronic Ambient is possibly the best description for the reasonably short bursts of melody driven, yet hazy visioned wordless storytelling which arrives as almost short story soundtracks. Disembodied voices often making unintelligible, gentle expulsions as dreamy passages of synth float by. In a way the music is unchallenging, far from simple, but easy to digest, making for pleasurable dreamscapes. However lean in, fully engage and the intricacy, care and attention unravels slowly in front of you, laying out other worldly intentions and beautiful, fully realised ideas.

However the real point of interest may even go beyond the music itself, with The Dopamine Recursive being a true collaboration between two bands, in the shape of Post-Rockers Midnight Moodswings and electronica trip-hoppers Seiswork. That these two polar opposites have teamed up is impressive, that they have done so in a way which sits neatly in middle ground amidst their usual comfort zones, while still nowhere near what you'd expect, is the real triumph. Tracks such as the beautiful percussive performance of "To Sleep", chiming almost Oriental "When You Cannot", or unnerving slow build horror of "Tell The Difference" being varied, yet focused.

An unusual idea executed in a convincing fashion, The Dopamine Recursive is a collaboration of ideas styles and ethos which clicks together in so many ways. However remember that to engage you need to be prepared to shut the outside world off and devote yourself to the music.



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