Review Summary: Quiet contemplation
Christopher Horne is a solo IDM artist who has released around a dozen EP/LP’s starting in the late 90’s. He was even a collaborator with Boards Of Canada up until their Twoism era. His album Blue Shift Emissions is an overlooked gem in the IDM subgenre. While the instrumental palette featured here is not massive in scope nor all that foreign to most IDM artists, Horne masterfully utilizes it to create a collection of satisfying, captivating songs.
Glimmers of hope and wonder shine through on track Happyfour Twenty, but fade as an inescapable sense of existentialism and melancholy take hold. The song has a simple structure and progression, but the tension between the optimistic and sorrowful sonic elements elevates it. Making A Snow Angel is driven by bouncy hip hop beats laying over lush, pensive synths. The track feels like glancing back at your most blissful memories for a moment before snapping back to the present.
A montage of hazy snapshots surrounding important memories and moments in my life pass by like meteors flashing and burning up instantaneously when listening to standout track Breathe Between Sleep. The depth and beauty of the melodies Horne composes and juggles throughout the song is commendable.
There is diversity on the album with warmer, playful tracks like Cordate and closer Ache/Eat. Cordate’s jovial energy is accomplished with its comforting, swelling synth bass and pads that have a triumphant, cathartic resolve. Ache/Eat tingles your brain with its whimsical bleeps, bloops, and beats constantly bouncing off each other and shape shifting.
Blue Shift Emissions provokes a feeling of deep reflection that one rarely encounters in modern life. A meditative loneliness you might experience in the wee hours between night and morning, when the world isn’t up yet, or on a long solo drive in the countryside. Most tracks bring back a memory or daydream, each with a different emotional nuance.
