Cameron Reed announced in 2013 that he was retiring his long-running experimental Babe Rainbow project in favour of crafting piano-based works, but his return to the old moniker for his first-ever full-length, Falling Apart, makes for the artist's welcome return to the electronic music world.
While in the past Reed has thrived on a horrifying blend of post-dubstep chicanery, monster movie keyboards and irregularly skittered beat work, Falling Apart often hits its heights with the most minimalist of arrangements. "Dub Music," for instance, opts out of the echo-laden clacks of its namesake genre in favour of a beat-less miasma of moody keyboard melodies. "Plucks" strips things down even further via a spare, white light-envisioning series of reverberated notes, while "Heavy Set" creates a blanketing of down-soft synths to close out the LP.
Further broadening his emotional palette, Falling Apart also finds Reed plenty playful. "Swept Stairs" is Babe Rainbow at its funkiest, letting a wildly wobbling bass line take the tune into '80s electro territory. Most hilariously, the holiday synth work of Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmas Time" and groan-worthy blues guitar samples are vigorously slammed into a cocktail shaker on "The Bells," ultimately pouring itself out as a demented, Pina Colada-flavoured Island dance jam.
While presenting itself as an incredibly diverse collection, Falling Apart has the ever-evolving Babe Rainbow at his most rock-solid.
(Kinky Beggar)While in the past Reed has thrived on a horrifying blend of post-dubstep chicanery, monster movie keyboards and irregularly skittered beat work, Falling Apart often hits its heights with the most minimalist of arrangements. "Dub Music," for instance, opts out of the echo-laden clacks of its namesake genre in favour of a beat-less miasma of moody keyboard melodies. "Plucks" strips things down even further via a spare, white light-envisioning series of reverberated notes, while "Heavy Set" creates a blanketing of down-soft synths to close out the LP.
Further broadening his emotional palette, Falling Apart also finds Reed plenty playful. "Swept Stairs" is Babe Rainbow at its funkiest, letting a wildly wobbling bass line take the tune into '80s electro territory. Most hilariously, the holiday synth work of Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmas Time" and groan-worthy blues guitar samples are vigorously slammed into a cocktail shaker on "The Bells," ultimately pouring itself out as a demented, Pina Colada-flavoured Island dance jam.
While presenting itself as an incredibly diverse collection, Falling Apart has the ever-evolving Babe Rainbow at his most rock-solid.