Description

Snorkel - Past Still Present Tense

Reviews

“…Not prog per se, but progressive for sure, the new one from London's out-there, avant-everything collective... Past Still Present Tense grooves on krautrock and urban beats, with dub flavours and exciting, imaginative details woven throughout the beats and the bleeps. It's like packing a whole lost weekend in the city into one hour and will reward the most catholic of ears.” [Prog Magazine]

“With Past Still Present Tense, they are now making a glowing comeback… …Their sound lies in the future of jazz, full of electronics, strange drum rhythms, repetitive melodies, dub, and alienating soundscapes. And it’s all overwhelmingly beautiful. Deep, too. Both the grooves and the sound they produce. Listen to a track like Black Wave Breaks and you’ll be absolutely sold… …’Past Still Present Tense’ is a delightfully challenging album from a band that, with this double album, has firmly placed itself back on the musical forefront. A delightful album with 19 tracks, each track, precisely because of its musical diversity, consistently surprises and captivates.” [Written In Music]

“The organic and machine in a loose rhythm cross multiple borders to create both a post-no wave dance and more mysterious, sometimes creeping and dystopian sci-fi… …There’s much to discover and absorb with each play that I can imagine this collection will keep listeners very busy – a lifetime of work in some band’s cases.” [Monolith Cocktail]

“Their third album, a double, and their first in almost a decade-and-a-half, showcases a four-piece who remain hungry for terrain where the groovy meets the exploratory. They may have drums and a guitar and occasionally demonstrate instinctive jazz chops, but most of the sound is electronic, whether on head-wibbling yet danceable whimsy or more curious fare.” [The Arts Desk]

“‘Past Still Present Tense’ showcases that deftly investigative sound across the album’s whopping nineteen tracks presenting pieces that are as playful as they are immersive. And with that immersive-ness, comes an almost foreboding sense of mystique – an aesthetic reminiscent of a quintessential sci-fi epic that finds our protagonist(s) coming to terms with their own demise, mortality or solitude. It makes for a compelling narrative throughout with the incorporation of electronics and sampling that help to add even more dimensions to the music.” [UK Vibe]

“The album offers an exciting journey through original genre blends, exotic grooves, rarely entered musical regions and creative sound combinations. By the way, new sub-genres are invented that do not yet have a name.” {Babyblaue-Seiten]

“The four sides flow inexorably under rhythmic evolutions that are soft and dilated, sketchy and fragmented, dense and dark, always in the enveloping interaction of a tide of sonic mutations. A journey that takes Can, This Heat, Konono N°1, and Material on the same train…” [Blow Up]

“Snorkel have let loose the first single, ‘Ogotemmeli’, which serves as an exhilarating taste of what’s to come.” [Cast The Dice]

“Making up for lost time maybe, Snorkel’s new offering is an expansive double that they says is “in certain respects” a retrospective collection that charts the group’s evolution across multiple line-ups taking in “dubwise electronic experimentalism, jazz/free improv, avant-funk and post-Krautrock propulsion”… …The first two tracks, krauty belters ‘Night Flight’ and ‘Ogotemmeli’, are quite the opening salvo. Deep grooves and shifting moods indeed.” [Moonbuilding]

“…this double album is truly a grueling experience. That's about the only negative thing we can say about the record.” [Luminous Dash]