Sebastian Borg aka Stockfinster is not interested in selling millions of records or in reaching a wider audience. Thanks to haphazard circumstances, he shyly decided to release for free his first album,
All Becomes Music, back in 2005. For all intent and purposes, the release went unnoticed, but that does not matter for someone with such modest aspirations.
All Becomes Music was downtempo electronic music, intimate and warm, ideal for listening in a cloudy and sad afternoon. The music was intelligent and elegant, but felt designed primarily for solace. It was a heartfelt and beautiful effort. Now, one of the advantages of having no strings attached is that you can take all the time needed to do things without having to please anyone. Thus, Borg took four years to carefully compose and produce the follow-up, and in 2009
Dead Line was finished. Yes, he released it also for free.
Dead Line is by far a much more ambitious work than
All Becomes Music. Starting with the quality of the recording itself, --available in a lossless version, instead of merely lossy mp3s-- the variety and depth is impressive. If the first one seemed to take place in the comfortableness of home, the new album follows Stockfinster in a long, liberating journey. Along the way, Borg takes snapshots that take the form of diverse soundscapes, offering a wide array of sounds and moods that can surely be overwhelming and hard to process even after several listens. He does not seem to follow any pattern or particular inclination other what his creativity suggests him for a given piece. He will guide you slowly through a droning and contemplative ambient piece, and then switch to a rhythmic track.This could give the impression of a disjointed work, but in reality what happens is no different than taking a real journey. You cannot choose what to experience, reality simply assaults you: take it or leave it. The erratic nature of the music only adds to its spontaneous feel, yet it has a cohesiveness of its own which is revealed the more you listen to it.
Dead Line is an unconventional and difficult work, not because it aims at experimentation or the abstract, but because it is perhaps too self-absorbed, freely creating soundscapes and playing with layers of sound in complete abandon. almost oblivious to time and the listener himself. Despite being a very long album, it softly draws you in, making feel you take part in the small world that unfolds around your ears. Still, what truly makes the record so enchanting are not its intricacies, but its honesty and warmth. This is a very human and fragile album, in which a sense of solitude is always present underneath all the details and complexities. The use of occasional vocal samples paired with often sad melodies just accentuate the sensation there is pain looking for relief, but the constant change in sound gives the album a brighter, almost detached tone. In
Dead Line we see an artist using electronic media to express his inner self, not just presenting a cold artistic conception. If the music seems impenetrable and obscure at first, it does not take too long before the album opens and reveals its beauty. Let us hope Sebastian Borg will continue to find the inspiration to create music like this, creative and meaningful; music that requires patience but that will ultimately speak to you.
