Daniel Avery - Song For Alpha
Critic Score
Based on 21 reviews
2018 Ratings: #156 / 890
User Score
Based on 157 ratings
2018 Rank: #421
Liked by 8 people
April 6, 2018 / Release Date
LP / Format
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CRITIC REVIEWS

90
PopMatters

Song For Alpha once again shows Avery deconstructing his various influences and welding them together to achieve something remarkable. The result is a sweeping, majestic album that sends the listener soaring above mountainous peaks or gently brushing the canyon floor, often during the space of a single track. This is the album that will deservedly see Avery achieve the kind of acclaim and reverence that he has for those that have influenced him.

90
God Is in the TV

Five years is a long time in techno and Song for Alpha is a very different – but, I’m happy to say, equally wonderful – beast entirely.

90
Uncut
Across 14 varied tracks, Avery's compositions become engulfing, such is the pull of his palpable textures, dense soundscapes and tantalising beats.
90
Loud and Quiet
Right now, no-one else is colouring in-between the lines quite like Daniel Avery and these tracks are to invade your thoughts and dreams.
80
Exclaim!
It's a focused and meticulously paced album that may veer into repetitiveness for some, but those who give themselves over to its shimmering grooves will find the investment worthwhile.
80
Q Magazine
He achieves an almost architectural sense of scale.
80
Mixmag

This is a strong, sometimes truly beautiful, maturation of Avery’s work as a producer.

80
Northern Transmissions
This album really hits a great middle ground for dance and experimental music, but its pacing will definitely require an appreciation for both genres.
80
Mojo

The sounds here do at times recall territories previously mapped by Brian and RD James, with or without MDMA, but Song For Alpha still makes for an electronic listening album of particular quality.

80
The Guardian
The old bodily pleasure is here, but it’s approached in altogether sterner, more serious ways.
80
Clash
Where ‘Drone Logic’ may have felt at home on a 3am dancefloor, ‘Song For Alpha’ is the end of the night - leading either to the after party or the pensive, hazy journey home.
80
The Line of Best Fit

The sum of Avery’s restraint and genre blending is a record that carries echoes of the club, but aspires to so much more. Gone are the peak-time weapons that peppered Drone Logic; instead Avery teases us with tension and texture, ebbing and flowing his way to something truly hypnotic.

80
Resident Advisor

Bleary and euphoric, Song For Alpha suggests that Avery still loves his "transient life spent between nightclubs, flights, the passenger seats of cars and hotel rooms"—though maybe in a different way than when he started.

80
DIY
It was already clear from his near-decade of huge DJ sets around the world, but this album cements Daniel Avery as one of the best.
80
The 405

Songs for Alpha isn’t the revolutionary, pulping, “techno techno techno”-techno behemoth that consolidates Avery’s status as the champion of the Reebok short-back-and-sides masses; it, and Avery, evidently strive to be more than that. It’s a thoughtful, considered progression by one of the UK’s most thoughtful, considerate producers.

80
AllMusic

It might take more listens to connect with Alpha than with Drone Logic, but it's just as powerful and fascinating.

80
Drowned in Sound

The hypnotic textures of BoC, the jittering slow motion techno of Aphex’s Selected Ambient Works, and even the more out there drunken synth melodies of LFO and early Autechre all seemingly play a part on Song For Alpha, and it’s to Avery’s credit that he’s managed to take those elements and make them sound so refreshing 20-plus years later.

70
Under the Radar

It may be a few songs too long and it may require more brain power than your average album, but, if you are willing to put the time in, Song For Alpha rewards you with some of the nicest experimental workings of the year so far.

70
musicOMH

Daniel Avery has a specific set of tools in his arsenal and these are sometimes spread a bit thin, but Song For Alpha is still a worthy follow-up to 2013’s Drone Logic and an enjoyable listen.

67
Pitchfork

Turning away from the mix of big-room energy and outré sounds that marked his debut, the London producer’s surprisingly muted second album is a catch-all for his varied tastes.

50
The Needle Drop
Daniel Avery's latest effort dives headfirst into the depths of ambient techno, but comes up relatively empty-handed.
Quet
NR

i love it when you call me señorita

Felix_96
70

7/10

good

Fav tracks: Stereo L, Projector, Sensation, Clear, Days From Now, Slow Fade, Quick Eternity

Fantasio
82

Fine IDM / ambient/experimental techno album of Daniel Avery. Despite more than one hour relatively equally floating music and avoiding vocals it never gets boring. Both, listen to it focussed or in the background works well. Hints (but better listen to this album as a whole):
Stereo L.
Projector
Slow Fade

Felix_96
70

7/10

good

Fav tracks: Stereo L, Projector, Sensation, Clear, Days From Now, Slow Fade, Quick Eternity

Fantasio
82

Fine IDM / ambient/experimental techno album of Daniel Avery. Despite more than one hour relatively equally floating music and avoiding vocals it never gets boring. Both, listen to it focussed or in the background works well. Hints (but better listen to this album as a whole):
Stereo L.
Projector
Slow Fade

Quet
NR

i love it when you call me señorita

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Track List

1First Light
1:38
75
2Stereo L
5:39
75
3Projector
5:14
75
4Tbw17
1:09
50
5Sensation
7:33
75
6Citizen // Nowhere
3:37
50
7Clear
5:33
75
8Diminuendo
7:00
75
9Days From Now
2:45
50
10Embers
1:55
50
11Slow Fade
5:32
100
12Glitter
6:42
75
13Endnote
0:08
50
14Quick Eternity
8:35
75
Total Length: 1 hour, 3 minutes
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Added on: January 19, 2018