Review: Inventions - Maze of Woods
By Bailey Kretz, Staff Writer
[Temporary Residence; 2015]
Rating: 3/5
Key Tracks: “Feeling The Sun Thru The Earth At Night,” “Springworlds,” “Moanmusic”
If you’ve been looking for an all-encompassing album, Inventions’ Maze of Woods is the way to go. Made up of labelmates Matthew Cooper of Eluvium and Mark T. Smith of Explosions in the Sky, these two ever-evolving artists have teamed up to create some truly beautiful and sonically interesting tracks. 2013’s debut self-titled release showed Inventions’ potential, but Maze of Woods shows listeners what these guys are really made of.
Going through the tracklist, this duo proves it’s done its homework on successful minimalist electronic artists. Maze of Woods almost feels like a compilation of work by pioneers like Jon Hopkins, Andy Stott and The Field. Of course, we hear plenty of Eluvium and Explosions energy channeling through the tracks, but all in all these guys have proved their worth as individuals.
The only song that really seems lost on the album is “Escapers,” which as an opening track gives a poor reflection of what to expect on the rest of the release. Though it is respectable for Cooper and Smith to experiment with a different sound, the song just starts off a bit too Purity Ring-ish for an ambient album, and vinyl-reversing sound effects halfway through make this piece feel a bit too gimmicky.
The guys redeem themselves with “Springworlds” immediately afterward, which taps into the same gentle sound as the ballads on Jon Hopkins’ Immunity. Slowly increasing the intensity in a Hopkins fashion, this airy orchestral-backed single drifts listeners through a timeless world and seems to melt away any negative thoughts. Perfect for reading or drifting off to sleep to, Inventions have tapped into a calmness outside of this realm.
If you thought Inventions wouldn’t pull out some Oneohtrix Point Never, think again. “Slow Breathing Circuit” takes a quiet acoustic guitar loop and pairs it with the jabbing-but-still-soft keys that OPN has made a staple in his music. Perhaps it is an ode to his game-changing style, and Inventions wanted to take a classically written song and put it to the test of his sound. They seem to experiment with this later on “Moanmusic,” shifting between moments of bright arpeggiated synths and a simple piano pattern.
Listeners will see a constant source of inspiration carry through the end. “Feeling The Sun Thru The Earth At Night” harvests not only a similar sound to The Field, but replicates the structure of “From Here We Go Sublime,” on The Field album of the same name, almost to a tee. With its light atmosphere, sampling of classical vocals and placement as the closing track, the end of Maze of Woods finds Inventions clearly demonstrating their admiration for the 2007 release. Not that that is a bad thing, because From Here We Go Sublime is phenomenal. There’s an apparent mutual admiration society going on here too, seeing as The Field remixed “Peregrine” off of this album.
Although Inventions throw a lot of technique at listeners this time around, there is no question that these guys are musicians to keep an eye on. Cooper and Smith have stepped up their game since last year’s debut and their working collaboration will hopefully only grow from here. Having backgrounds in two of the genre’s most game-changing bands certainly helps their approach. It’s only a matter of time before they take all of their influences and hone in on their joint sound.
