Daydreaming

Yes To Fear, Yes To Desire
Panoptique Electrical
Sensory Projects, 2009
4 stars

This is really beautiful. Panoptique Electrical, a Melbourne group led by Jason Sweeney (also of Mist & Sea), have created a 57-minute instrumental mood swing with this album; a wistful, world-wise soundtrack, ready to wrap itself around the listener whatever activity they find themselves engaged in at the time. Fans of Sigur Ros should hunt down a copy of this album yesterday – the slow, haunting chords of tracks such as Some Rooms Become Us are reminiscent of those found on the Icelandic lads’ wonderful ( ), with the sea-shanty vibe of fellow countrymen múm’s Summer Make Good. It’s a simple formula really; piano notes stretched-out over washy, lingering strings and elongated samples to form a series of meditative, melancholy instrumentals - it’s been done before, but rarely this well. The vibe of the album is not intentionally depressing, nor uplifting, but it is definitely one that will calm a listener’s nerves and amplify any pesky, meandering thoughts.

Published in mX, Thursday August 13, 2009.