RL Huber - Themisto

 Released: January 9

RL Huber is well-known for his cinematic soundscapes that evoke a variety of emotional reactions. For Themisto, he wields this compositional skill for evoking darkly-lit scenes filled with tension and dread across twelve tracks. It opens up with “Aquifer” in a rather soft and foreboding manner, with spaced out rises that set a foggy atmosphere. But by the second track, “Perilous Landing,” the tension comes into full swing as immense pads and textures fill up the soundscape to be joined by massive hits that evoke scenes of massive pieces of machinery colliding. These two themes emerge repeatedly throughout the album, alternating between a foreboding dread and explicit tension that never fully releases. 

The persistent dread and tension sounds like a combination that would make for a deeply uncomfortable listen. However, there is this sense of overarching calm that keeps things grounded throughout which sometimes becomes more explicit, if only momentarily. There’s such a moment in the opening moments of “Jungian Springs” as the synths play out a soft but slightly discordant three note arpeggio over and over  as an equally discordant pad joins in slowly. It feels peaceful as first but then this addition bring that sense of unease right “Home is Illusion” creates a similar dichotomy But leans more heavily into a strange sense of wistfulness that is punctuated by the piano and bass hits that come along with sharp regularity.

Themisto is all about the dread at its core, with some ancillary emotiveness gathered around it. There’s several theme present in some of the title that evoke a sense of longing, a sense of wistfulness, and even a sense of abandonment. But none of these ancillary themes ever make things overwhelming. Rather, they all work together well in a refined and balanced manner.