The Abstract Observer - The Dawn Identity

 Released: September 19

Known for their reviews and coverage of other’s music, The Abstract Observer makes their first foray into distributing their own work with The Dawn Indentity. The entire album is based heavily on the mathematical formula known as “Euler’s Identity.” Now, I’m not going to sit here and pretended I know enough about mathematics to understand the construct here, but the music itself is quite sublime in tone and structure. Each track bears the name of one piece of the equation with an abstract description of that piece beginning with “e: to stack, to decay.” Here’s things begin with a piano-centric piece in which the melody feels quite often like it is swirling in on itself, creating this feeling that can be perceived as either falling or rising, depending on the perspective you take on it. The other other point in the album in which a similar  theme is used can be found on third track in which this circular pattern is represented by the sound of a small music box. 

As we approach the end of the album, we are treated to a supremely beautiful ambient track in “1: to be, to unify,” a ten-minute epic that takes us through soft atmospheric tones and lush pad-like structures supporting them. This is truly the point in the album in which it becomes easy to lose your bearings and just become awash in the sounds, elegant as they are. Then it is the final track that breaks this ambient piece in a glitching and slightly abrasive way, but still keeping with the overarching themes of the album. If I were to compare this to something familiar, the whole album feels a lot like a brief slice of No Man’s Sky, both sonically and aesthetically. It has a very polished and programmatic approach, but managed to feel organic nonetheless. It’s a beautiful foray into a mathematically-driven style of composition that resonates with me indelibly.