[Review/Listen] – Korallreven – “An Album By Korallreven”

I, for one, am loving the Scandinavian synthesizer renaissance that’s been delivering all kinds of flavors and textures of progressive, expansive electronic music lately. From Múm to Tough Alliance and even Detektivbyrån, it’s evident that software and synth-pads are becoming as integral as strings and skins. Korallreven, I’m glad to say, isn’t rocking the boat. The Swedish duo has just released their new album, “An Album By Korallreven”.

What they’ve done is mix many of the structural elements of ambient music with all kinds of electronic tools producing a wide range of sounds, some you might find in a meditation aid and others you might even find in the trance world. In truth, it’s hard to find a common thread besides binary code. Vocals are used as a layer, not really leading the wire-waltz, and you’ll find some very bright acoustic guitar within, but it’s seemingly used more for the sound than what’s actually being played.

The duo does achieve a pretty cool, understatedly positive overall feel. The sparkly ambient layers, ethereal voices, and use of mostly major keys work towards a very easily-received sound. I would liken it one of those days when the weather is just perfect, but you haven’t consciously noticed: a good disposition comes easy, but you haven’t really bothered wondering why.

Korallreven holds nothing back right from the beginning, opening with “As Young As Yesterday”, a track blanketed with shimmering synthesizers that build nice and slow into a big, feel-good sound. Actually, I could say that exact thing about most of the tracks on the album. That’s not at all to say the tracks run together; we all know (or at least those of us who watch any Food Network) that good chefs can make all kinds of tasty dishes from the same raw ingredients. I did find “Pago Pago” to be an especially lovely instrumental, with the assortment of string instrument sounds playing a nice progression, and “Honey Mine” also stood out as taking on a slightly different, darker mood.

The closing track, “Comin’ Down”, is where I think Korallreven actually find their form. They tend to dabble in some different composition structures throughout the album, but this 9 minute trip is where I think their ability to warp all kinds of sonic topography really comes together. The concept of the long, looped, layered journey type of song makes more sense to me coming from them. They also seem to be able to say a lot more with their instrumentation than they can with their writing.

Korallreven (meaning, I’m told, “coral reef” in Swedish) is a superb name for this project: “An Album By Korallreven” may very well be the best tropical snorkel/scuba soundtrack ever made. It isn’t an album that’s going to knock your socks off with its hooks or compositional innovation or any of that, but Korallreven achieve a sincere, easy, and really very pretty sound. If you couple that care-free and well-meant positivity with all the colors and life of a Caribbean coral reef, well you’re really in business. I hear they make waterproof headphones these days, anybody care to try it out?

Connect with Korallreven – MySpace | Facebook | Soundcloud