Review Summary: A glimpse into the future
Sasu Ripatti came to NYC from Finland with hopes of becoming a modal jazz drummer, ala Miles Davis' 'Kind of Blue'. When he arrived and realized such music was no longer relevant, he became interested in the possibilities of jazz and electronic, eventually spawning this project Vladislav Delay. 'Anima' is an album with no comparison to any album, band, or song in any era of music (except Ripatti's own work). It is without a doubt one of the most innovative and atmospheric electronic albums ever recorded.
The album consists of one hour long song, with a strange sample in the beginning of men talking backed by minimalist electronic that sounds like someone is just emerging from a dream, or perhaps a simulated reality "Eddie?... Are you awake or not?". We then hear the man in the sample say "I don't know... it's over" and all of the sudden, a huge rush of cybernetic synths and indescribable percussion kicks in. It is in this moment that you realize you are listening to something else entirely. It is as if you are inside a kind of organism that is undergoing a technological tranformation. Within this are extremely urban and extremely futurist themes that are present at all times. The track fluctuates so much it does give a feel of free jazz in some odd sense. But it utilizes a very simple chord pattern, yet is able to disguise it enough to keep you interested for the whole 1 hour and 2 minute runtime.
So to be clear, others have describe this as glitch ambient electronic. I do not think this is an accurate label. While this has ambient properties and electronic properties, it is about fifty percent organic instrumentation. With that being said, it is also extremely chaotic in its execution of percussion and other sounds, yet it all sounds like it belongs together perfectly in its futurist echo world. It is a marvel for audiophiles and producers to try and dissect this work; the textures on display here are some of the clearest and most pronounced your likely to hear on any record. This allows the work to reach these ethereal heights that almost doesn't seem possible for this day and age, and to think this is from 2001 really throws you for a loop.
The album ends with a sudden splash, accompanied by very oceanic sounding synths. The album ends with a brilliant ambient section and samples that resolve a storyline that your mind will inevitably create on its own after listening. All things considered, its an album that still sounds like a future for music that hasn't happened yet. A future of sonic mediums that are not yet at our fingertips. The entire time you are wondering how Ripatti pulled this off.... it is a head-scratcher. In the end, you are left with an astonishing glimpse into the future that upon first hearing, I wished to return to immediately.
