Stable beats, some ambient backgrounds, a few sfx hits here and there, slightly glitchy at times, not much melody. Competently put together. Consistent. Well-produced. I find myself getting slightly bored halfway through, though. It all feels impersonal. Sterile. Precise. Where's the artist in all this? I only get glimpses, like in a track like NoumenalWrld with its vocal samples. That's where-in I think the artist's main goal reflects the best. Maybe "cerebral" is the word I'm after. I do get the feeling that the artist minds a lot about intellect. Maybe that's where the artist is to be found.
I've been thinking about this for a few days now, even a week. I could speculate: maybe there's a point to it feeling impersonal. The artist mentions "living between Lebanon and The Netherlands", so maybe there's a sense of losing one's personality dealing with being torn between two cultures. Maybe I read too much into that. I do know a little about being torn between cultures, though—and sometimes not being part of any of them, as a result.
Undone by Semiosis In The Sun sort of comes disguised as ambient, but not ambient enough to let me relax, so it demands something from me, but when I listen actively, I find it not demanding enough to keep my attention, so it kind of teases me with an outstretched treat, but when I reach for it, the hand holding the treat turns out empty. On the surface, it has all the signs of being more than it is, but it doesn't speak to me in a way I found worthwhile. Then again, I feel like I should like it more than I do, being into some of afx's output, I mean, who kind of started the whole idm/braindance thing.
My brain craves either constant variation or hypnotic repetition. This is kind of neither for me. If you like consistency, though, and want to know what to expect, not wanting any surprises or sudden changes in genre, this is what you would want. The artist picks a theme and sticks to it. In a sense, I envy them for it. It's more than I could ever do. Sampling the artist's other output, most of it is similar to this one. If you're more like me, you might need a few listens to get into the groove of it. The groove is there, just not immediately available to me. In fact, sitting down to actually write this review helped me get closer to finding it.
Something happens at the end: the last track has a sense of immediacy that I found lacking a bit in the rest of the album. A bit long perhaps; could have ended half-time (or third-time); what comes after the break is mostly just more of the same. Still, it's nice to get some change and it works well as a finale.
Side-note: The artist's bandcamp "avatar" had me at first, but eventually I found the artist in it. It's like they have a full set of future lectures inside their head. I wouldn't be surprised.
