Working with unusual instrumentation risks seeming over-thought and forced, but what is perhaps most impressive about Elements Of Light is just how integrated the bells and other auxilliary percussion are with the core features of Weber’s work.
If given the chance, it has the ability to wash over the listener in waves, with melodies and percussion gently bobbing along on a sea of droning bells.
As a whole, Elements Of Light might feature a fair amount of padding, and it might not be quite as original sounding as the idea would suggest, but even so it does offer more than enough to satisfy as a listening experience, rather than just a curiosity.
Elements Of Light is a fine Pantha Du Prince record, and fares well when placed side-by-side with its predecessors.
It feels like those involved were as invested in the transformative power of the music as they were in flexing their not inconsiderable talents.
The fruit of his collaboration with The Bell Laboratory is worth investigating even if it doesn’t manage the depths of previous Pantha Du Prince LPs. The slightness only comes in its lack of scope rather than anything outright qualitative.
Elements Of Light is missing momentum and velocity—two things needed to sustain an all-instrumental symphony
The pairing, and subsequent output, of Weber and the Bell Laboratory is expected and mundane.
#11 | / | Time Out London |
#89 | / | Rough Trade |