dimensions.//kupla

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

With the enlightened sound of a string sample, ceremoniously incorporated alongside a series of detailed background sound FX, and all whilst utilising an awkwardly positioned wind-pipe instrument (brass), with copious amounts of melancholic ambience involved, the first track on this instrumental album by Kupla entitled - 'Dimensions' comes with a clear and concise theme and is a sign of things to come. The hip-hop style beats that are included, each more presentable than the next, portray a side to the producer that we're not altogether familiar with.

We all know that Kupla's 'Life Forms' album is a must hear due to its concept. Dimensions takes this level slightly higher and impresses in every way. However, when we speak of album track transitions, we usually mean the fluency with which each track is introduced. In the world of criticism there are seamless transitions and then there are transitions that drift. On that scale, the transitions found on his new album are slap bang in the middle - neither jaw-dropping nor lacklustre. The music is still however, that damn good, that Kupla probably didn't require the level of concept that the 'Life Forms' album contains.

The reason it only gets three stars, however, is because there was a much greater expectation on this project.

Like the first song, 'Lemonade' for instance, throughout most of his album, Kupla is continuously embattled by a fundamentally obvious contradiction in this product. The light instruments and chimes tend to be real and invocative of Daffodils blowing in the park during a midsummer's evening, and unfortunately, the wind instrument he has selected is just not befitting of that sort of imagery. Does his choice have a meaning? Yes, it probably does. But, I'd compare its presence as to a snowy afternoon in mid-December rather than mid-summery.

Also, oftentimes, we critique music based on consistency and repetitiveness. The music is very consistent here. Yet that coveted fourth star would probably have been achieved if the first two songs preceding the referenceable 'Solitude' were as consciously developed. 

What is missing is a strong enough subtext to branch and unionise their appeal. What is expected to permeate is not what actually transpires. That being said, 'Solitude', 'Seven Seas', Night Ride' and 'Rituals' are the ravishing high-points on this brilliantly-focused new Kupla album.