★★★☆☆
Three Stars
DJ and producer Sebastien Mullaert has released Reflections of Nothingness in collaboration with Israeli electronic producer Eitan Reiter. As with every new electronic release, standing apart from the swathes of material appearing on the web every day is essential.
Reflections of Nothingness, a name that may initially sound like the title of a gap year student’s account of their year abroad in a Himalayan monastery, actually provides something profound enough to meditate upon.
‘Enter The Spiral’ opens the album in a mechanic yet uncompromising fashion, slowly progressing from distant, reverberated beats and distended soft synthesiser touches to enter a hypnotizing sonic world.
The music takes a distinctly more trance-like step with ‘Ash Layla’, consisting of a danceable beat layered with effects (one of which sounds frustratingly like a vibrating phone). The machine enters a shut down phase by the final track ‘Faith’, some faint yet haunting vocals ring out sadly, and are looped and distorted.
As with so many albums, it is easy to break Reflections of Nothingness down into two distinct sections; the first of which has a more upbeat trance vibe, and the second of which is purely focussed on experimental synthesised downbeat.
If Mullaert and Reiter have done anything expertly, it is to create a soundscape where changes in tempo and sounds from the real world bring the listener into a new dimension.
