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Avg: 4.0 (142 ratings)
- Date Released: January 1, 1994
- Genre: Electronic
- Style: Leftfield
- Label: Warp Records
As close as Autechre ever got to an ambient album, and it's sublime
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We Say...
Autechre's Sean Booth and Rob Brown had forged a stunning debut in 1993's Incunabula, but it was one that sounded mighty similar to other records in the nascent IDM genre, full of the sort of dinky melodicisms and (relatively) undanceable beats that were favored, no doubt, by the robot lounging on the cover of Warp's 1992 seminal Artificial Intelligence compilation.
Amber, released in 1994, is the sound of a duo in transition. They were moving forward, no doubt, as you can hear on the evil drone that opens the record on "Foil," or the industrial energy that speeds "Teartear" to its conclusion through a haze of echoing sirens and massed synths. But there are also clear moments where the duo hasn't quite outgrown its early sound, as on "Slip," which is prototypical IDM — sweeping chords, lightly distorted beats, lots of room for headspace.
An uneven Autechre, however, was better than just about any Warp act at its best at the time, and Amber has enough highlights to ignore the historical context. The album is, unlike much of its work to follow, highly melodic — focused on texture rather than on dizzying algorhythmic beats. Both the aforementioned "Foil" and "Further" are supreme mood pieces, while "Montreal" is as haunting as ever. This as close as Autechre ever got to an ambient album, and it's sublime. -
They Say...
In small but noticeable ways on this, their sophomore release, Autechre begin to break from the clean, if at times obvious, artistic techno from their debut record, and reach instead toward something far more distinct. Sean Booth and Rob Brown weren't quite there yet, but their self-production is even more accomplished than before, and their instincts to steer away from overly polite electronic dance music come ever more to the fore at various points throughout Amber. "Foil" begins the album with a distinctly spooky feel to it, with droning keyboards playing out over a series of spare percussion patterns; the heavy echo and crumbling, lo-fi bass feel of the track reduces its straightforward danceability, creating an ominous introduction to the album. "Silverside" at once strips things down to a more minimal approach. A string synth section plays out over first gently thudding then more pounding beats. Then a more off-kilter section with distorted vocal samples and sounds provides part of the melodic accompaniment and rhythm. "Glitch" has a nice roiling rumble to it; it isn't as fragmented as later releases, but veers a little more closely to the edge in comparison to earlier songs. "Piezo" is also worth noting, with uplifting synths balancing out a very quirky, almost intrusive series of rhythms, while "Yulquen" eschews beats entirely for a slightly disturbing though still beautiful track which rivals prime Aphex Twin. For all this, Amber does suffer a similarity to Incunabula, in that a couple of tracks could be removed with no problem, while tracks like "Montreal" and "Slip" continue the basic Incunabula formula without noticeable change. Even so, things are clearly starting to gel a little more here than on previous releases; the great leap forward becomes all the more logical in retrospect.
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| 01. |  |
Foil |
6:04 |
|
| 02. | |
Montreal |
7:15 |
|
| 03. | |
Silverside |
5:31 |
|
| 04. | |
Slip |
6:21 |
|
| 05. | |
Glitch |
6:15 |
|
| 06. | |
Piezo |
8:00 |
|
| 07. | |
Nine |
3:40 |
|
| 08. | |
Further |
10:07 |
|
| 09. | |
Yulquen |
6:37 |
|
| 10. | |
Nil |
7:48 |
|
| 11. | |
Teartear |
6:45 |
|
11 Total Tracks, 74:23 Total Length
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