+Dome

In other reviews of this album I've read, attempts to slap a genre onto its sound usually involve at least five hyphens, and absurd numbers of `post's and `nu's. I think the very nature of this album (and perhaps more so with their previous full length release) is that it appears free from definition, and without an often stifling, "scene". Whilst I haven't the slightest knowledge of the Sydney electronic music scene, this album manages to experiment and draw from a number of different genres, in much the same way as `The Sound Of Trees Falling On People', without feeling the need to conform to any one sound. `+DOME's great strength is that it draws together Seekae's many different ideas, and refines them in both sound and structure in such a way that their sprawling 73 minute debut did not.

The album opener, `GO' is an example of one of the new directions the band goes in. We hear rapidly strummed guitars and live sounding drums (rather than the obviously computerized percussion of the last album) building in speed, volume, distortion and most importantly tension until a sudden stop, only to be revived by the slow, melodic guitar of `3', the next track. After the first minute of this track however, the guitar takes a back seat and appears only once or twice more until we reach the final track of the album. This noticeable and structured progression of thought sets the album apart from many of its kind. Perhaps more evocative, however, is the change in tone and feeling in the album.

From one track to the next we seem to be seamlessly guided through a range of human emotion, which many electronic albums cannot offer. I have heard speculation that some electronic music is, by its very nature inhuman and therefore without emotion, owing to the "unearthly instrumentals" and "absent vocals", but this album manages to transcend that. The chirpy and sunny feel of `Gnor' following the serene, yet melancholy interweaving of orchestral strings and synthesizers in `Underling', seems as natural as any album progression I have heard, particularly when compared to their previous album. Even `Gnor' does not keep its mood static; with the addition of layers seeming to corrupt the bubbles of the opening notes creating something of a dance beat, until the melody descends into chaos before finally petering out in a swirl of incoherent sound.

Seekae draw the curtains with a song which repeats the slow, melodic guitar plucking and a soft, distant voice of longing which would not sound entirely out of place on a Dido album. It is this unpredictable edge that gives the album its charm, and it is the skillfully drawn together and structured nature of the album, which makes it great.