Those expecting the ambient weightlessness and warmth that the electronica label Music From Memory usually stands for will be surprised – at least at first – by Loradeniz‘s debut album Sun Shone. The first four tracks waft through foggy, droning blackness in a minor key, sometimes rhythmically diffuse, but mostly carried by Deniz Omeroglu’s haunting voice – sometimes in clear speech, sometimes in wordless singing. The dramatically orchestrated piece »Cloud Sofa« is particularly impressive, in which piano, strings, synthesizer and vocals condense into a tragic beauty.
In the second part of the eight-track album, there is a noticeable change: the mournful voice is silent, but major chords and straight rhythms come to the fore. It is as if someone has passed through grief – and is now carefully finding his way back into the light. »Swimmer«, a track that is unfortunately much too short, marks this transition particularly impressively as a yearning daydream. With the final track »Aftersun” Sun Shone finally returns to the label’s signature. Perhaps the dramaturgy is a little too straightforward – but that remains a minor flaw in an otherwise impressively balanced debut in terms of sound, composition and emotion.
Sun Shone
