Monday, May 3, 2010

Mark Van Hoen - Playing With Time


Label: Apollo
Released: 1998
Style: Abstract, Downtempo, Experimental, Ambient

"Fifth and best album of elegant electronica from the ex-Seefeel man.
From the breathy and mysterious opener Real Love to the marathon finale Love Is All, Playing With Time displays an impressive range of instrumentation and clever application of technology. Its 10 tracks draw on techno, trance and ambient influences without ever making you reach for the fast-forward button. There's even an extended Bobby Konders-style funky organ workout on Once When I Was Fourteen to stop the whole caboodle getting too airy and rootless. OK, Van Hoen occasionally gets a bit literal with the temporal allusions - music-box noises on Surrounder, clockwork cogs grinding away on Gifts And Prizes - but the results are so damn beautiful they take your breath away. Nine pieces of exquisitely crafted electronica set the scene and then Love Is All glides gracefully by and keeps the old-school ambient heads happy for 36 minutes. There's life in the old circuitry yet. Rob Chapman" - Mojo

Tracklisting:

1 Real Love (7:57)
2 Surrounder (3:15)
3 First Steps (4:18)
4 Closer Than We All Thought (3:42)
5 A More Light Past (2:58)
6 Once When I Was Fourteen (4:36)
7 Gifts And Prizes (4:13)
8 You And Me Inside (4:30)
9 When Tomorrow Comes (5:54)
10 Love Is All (4:45)

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