Among Trees I Want To Live

2018 release. Gabriel Le Mars been on a roll. Not content to recast techno through his simmering dub vernacular to yield ever more bracing results, he manages to construct records of both gorgeous accessibility and wholly entrancing affect. Among Trees I Want To Live finds him returning to Carpe Sonum armed with his characteristic brimstone and brio. Back in the 90s, a track sporting the seductive pulsations of Regenerative would have been classified as armchair techno; genre tokenisms aside, it is instead a sterling five minutes of neon throb and quacking guitar process that easily casts a spell on the dancefloor and home listening space alike. Le Mar states that his latest slab of fair trade organic beatstuffs was created in the studio, yes, but all the tracks carry the essence of being among trees. And just like the lives of trees, the album is full of mystery. We second that emotion. He effortlessly mind melds aspects of Underworld with his own Saafi Brothers project throughout the eleven-minute rhythmic maelstrom that is Imagination Creates, its arpeggiating turmoil a hypnotic glimpse into the pinholes of whirlpools and dubwise kaleidoscopes. Wisdom of Resistance echoes the half-seen, mystical forest of dreams with its epic arrangement, while Electric Leaves offers a prismatic schism across landscapes excavated as much by Lee Perry as Tangerine Dream. Similarly sequenced workouts animate the deep tribal undergrowth of Network of Life, magically juxtaposing sounds that don't quite exist in nature yet nurture something akin to the tender, enveloping caress of verdant forests. For Le Mar, beauty certainly is in the ear of the beholder.