Through his time spent as bassist in early 2000s Dischord Records post-punk band Black Eyes and in early 2010s electro-punk outfit Mi Ami, Jacob Long has always shown a penchant for low-end, tribal rhythms. With his solo project Earthen Sea, Long has perfected his depth-obsessed rhythmic sense, transforming it into techno and noise symphonies that rumble along no matter the BPM.
After releasing a handful of limited releases, along with a proper debut in 2015, Long has produced his strongest and most focused LP to date: the reflective An Act of Love. Over the album's eight tracks, Earthen Sea rotates between foggy, doomsday ambient noise ("The Present Mist," "Apparent Lushness"), throbbing, synth-led techno instrumentals ("About That Time," "The Flats 1975") and a mix of both ("Exuberant Burning"). But most of the material on An Act of Love falls into the ambient category, as Long has a proclivity for inserting hissing, slow-burning anti-melodies that swell and inflate most of the album's five- and six-minute soundscapes.
Although the 40-minute LP may come off as the work of an artist still trying to find his sound, Long seems to somehow pull off an enviable genre-bend on An Act of Love.
(Kranky)After releasing a handful of limited releases, along with a proper debut in 2015, Long has produced his strongest and most focused LP to date: the reflective An Act of Love. Over the album's eight tracks, Earthen Sea rotates between foggy, doomsday ambient noise ("The Present Mist," "Apparent Lushness"), throbbing, synth-led techno instrumentals ("About That Time," "The Flats 1975") and a mix of both ("Exuberant Burning"). But most of the material on An Act of Love falls into the ambient category, as Long has a proclivity for inserting hissing, slow-burning anti-melodies that swell and inflate most of the album's five- and six-minute soundscapes.
Although the 40-minute LP may come off as the work of an artist still trying to find his sound, Long seems to somehow pull off an enviable genre-bend on An Act of Love.
