Manual is the name used by Jonas Munk, a music producer from Odense, Denmark. He specialises in producing albums of instrumental electronic music that could quite easily be integrated into film soundtracks. This is his first proper album for five years. So, what do you get after a long wait? Well, from hearing this, you get twelve near perfect soundscapes that are ideal for any fan of electronic music.
The opening track, ‘Warm Circuits’ came across as very 1979 Gary Numan Pleasure Principle and basically sets you up for the rest of the album. ‘Afterimages’ blends acoustic and electric guitars really well with synths, but it is on the third track ‘Biarritz’ that this album really comes to life. Acoustic guitars mix with analogue synths to produce a lush orchestration that repeatedly fades in and out. ‘Phainomenon’ is without doubt the best track on the album, starting off with a sound quite reminiscent to ‘Only You’ by Yazoo; shimmering synths are layered on to of each other to provide a really unique listening experience. At over nine and a half minutes long this never outstays its’ welcome, and on first hearing actually seemed a lot shorter. This fades into the title track of the album, ‘Drowned in Light’ which seemed slightly flat by comparison.
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Other stand out tracks are: - ‘Empty Inside’, a guitar and synth melody that gently washes over you like waves. ‘Pulsations’ which as the title suggests start with a pulsing synth beat with guitars layered over this, before morphing into the sort of synth keyboard lines that were popular more than thirty years ago.
Musically, this is a great album, and there is little to fault it, although from my perspective, it may be best appreciated by dipping into it rather than listening to it all at one sitting.
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