Review Summary: Traversing an imaginary forest filled with steam from a thousand luxury jacuzzis.
Wesley MacDonald is an electronic producer from the Scottish capital who has been releasing music under the name of Faex Optim since 2015. Developing from his debut
Tris·kai·dek·a·pho·bi·a which offered up a decent, if incohesive selection of IDM tracks, his 2016 sophomore
Start with the River ups the ante by embarking on a succinct, elegant journey through an endless world of dreamlike electronic music. Holding emotive power in a strikingly similar way to innovators Boards of Canada, the album provides a colourful collage of beauty, hope and a twisted sense of nostalgia for something one has never experienced.
Opener “My Little Fortress” catapults the listener so deeply into a warped BoC-esque universe that it can be difficult to imagine it’s not them coming out of the speakers. The decayed synthesisers sound near identical to the equipment used on the electronic cornerstone
Music Has the Right to Children and this, along with frequent spoken-word samples and the fact MacDonald hails from the very same city, will have one pondering whether Faex Optim is one of the brothers going solo under a pseudonym. While much of the music seems to have been influenced by
Music Has the Right to Children, the treated acoustic guitars featured on “Moscow School” and closing track “The Ocean Congress” nod to BoC’s slightly more conventional sonic palate on
The Campfire Headphase.
Despite the similarities,
Start with the River does exhibit mild nuances of its own. Instead of generating a creepy atmosphere of tension and unease, the overall vibe is much less dark and more easily accessible, like a mash-up between background music for a relaxing spa experience and the soundtrack to a DIY instructional video. This lighter, less anxiety-inducing tone is aided by a more genteel approach to the programmed drums, with less bass impact and a dusty, spacious quality to loosen things up, adding fluidity. The record reaches peak chill on “Good Night Captain” which conjures up stunningly tranquil visions of rainforests and vignettes of joyous bird song, producing a blissed-out atmosphere and a true sense of adventurous freedom.
Demonstrating such a resemblance in sound with an act so seminal as Boards of Canada could have resulted in being written off as mere mimicry but MacDonald operates with such unabashed blasé and just enough subtle distinction that his efforts succeed greatly, taking listeners on a highly cohesive and delicate journey through electronic heaven. After a decade of silence from the brothers of Boards, at least Faex Optim is here to fill the void.
