Atmospheric DnB artist TURQUOISEDEATH returns with their fourth album ‘Kaleidoscope’ released last Friday, Oct. 14. After hearing their album ‘Se Bueno’ last year, I was very excited to dive into this new instrumental project.
The 10-track album starts with “Entrance,” a slow, droning piece punctuated with twinkling sounds heard every now and then. For three straight minutes these low, deep droning sounds panned left and right contribute to a calming effect, feeling almost soulful. This helped set the vibe throughout the rest of the album, but shoutout to the artwork, which features the inside of a cave and striking white lines streaked across.
The second track, “Limbo” returns to TURQUOISEDEATH’s breakcore sound that was prevalent in his last album “Se Bueno.” The whole song is carried by the complex breakcore beat, with the jittery synth line atop, kicking into a whole new gear in the final 90 seconds.
Next up comes, “Mirage.” The track’s intro has a very lo-fi vibe, filled with occasional piano notes. The composition is the same and “Limbo,” synth melodies over fast and complex breakcore beats. In the second half of the song, it changes up and some alien-sounding synth line enters the mix, with bouncy synths travelling all around the mix.
“Glimmer,” features the guest artist vmrrobotic. It’s a slight change-up as the drums take the spotlight along with some plodding synths, and it’s a lot more in your face than the past few songs. I guess because of this chaotic energy present, the drums start to fade out near the end — a recurring thing throughout this album — to make space for a high drone, almost angelic in tone.
“Hold Tight” marks the midway point of the album and is one of the few to feature vocals. Compared to the last three tracks, “Hold Tight” is more downtempo, giving room for the various instruments to shine, whether they be the high droning as heard on “Glimmer” or the vocal and synth melodies that take up most of the mix. The drums fade out to put the spotlight on what I believe is a flute. Such moments highlight the diversity of instruments in this song.
“Lullaby” is very much the opposite of its namesake, as it is more of the same breakcore as before, but with some more electronica influence. Echoing keys are the first thing you notice as you listen, the second thing being this ominous slinking synth that appears halfway through. The bridge consists of all of these instruments going into overdrive for a minute, and as it starts to climax, you expect a massive drop to come in, but they all putter out gracefully.
The seventh track, “Subterrane,” is one of the few songs that doesn’t really feature a breakcore beat, opting instead for a slower and louder backbeat that takes the lead for this song. TURQUOISEDEATH also creates a synth line that feels like it’s travelling in a circle around my head. The final few minutes of “Subterrane” start with a snare that, along with some loud electronic keys, pierces your ears. Not before fading out to a quite ominous ending, highlighted by the low droning ever present and a vocal sample that says, “be good, be honest.”
This leads into the next track, and my personal favorite, “Leviathan Sanctuary” which picks right up from that ominous vocal sample. The drums come in immediately and sound voraciously loud compared to the last few tracks, while the main melody consists of a funky bassline that feels sped up. The song starts to charge up to a climax, but to little payoff, like in “Lullaby.” But the silence doesn’t last long as the drums, droning and vocal sample start to reach the levels before that silence very quickly. The vocal sample seems to be taken from a rocket launch, as it starts counting down for the introduction of some very harsh-sounding drums, again the song charges up again before mellowing out. But this time the only instrument that plays is a soft guitar. After such a brash-sounding song, it’s a lovely cooldown and help mellows out the listener for the next song, “So Far Away.”
“So Far Away” also continues from the previous song, creating a trilogy of sorts between “Lullaby,” “Leviathan Sanctuary” and “So Far Away.” It’s more of the same breakcore affair but the heavy inclusion of a guitar makes it feel less like an EDM song and more rock-like. You have these atmospheric twangs that fill the empty space not taken up by the same guitar riff from “Leviathan Sanctuary.” The drums don’t have the same frantic energy as in other songs and are a lot calmer. In the middle it fades out to just a guitar, before the drum and synth lines return along with a female voice singing “you feel so far away.” This is also one of my favorite songs of the album, I also want to appreciate the artwork on this song as well, (sidenote: On YouTube, all the songs have their own artwork, they’re simply lovely and give of a lot of Akira vibes).
The final song is the 10-minute-long masterpiece “Underneath,” the runtime makes it feel entirely separate from the rest of the album, with the second longest song clocking in at six minutes. Starting in total silence, a plodding synth line fills up the mix, before drums kick in to start the first part of this song, which is quite upbeat in tone, with its ascendant synth sound that pans left to right. As it fades out, a booming bass drum takes the mantle, signaling the second part has started; a standard breakcore affair punctuated by some twinkling keys. The third part of this song is introduced with the familiar drone sound at this point. This part mirrors the first few minutes of the song in its tone, but the main highlight is the thumping backbeat that carries it along to the ending. As the drums fade out, the keys take center stage, ending the whole album with a wonderful flourish.
With a lo-fi vibe but a breakcore rhythm, TURQUOISEDEATH has delivered what is one of my favorite albums of the year. Although most of the songs can be described as breakcore drums with a synth line on top, there is enough diversity in the melodies and instrumentation throughout the album to keep it exciting. His run of songs from “Lullaby” to “Underneath” is probably the best run of songs I have heard this year. Please check it out, you won’t regret it for a second.
Rating: 5/5