This record is beautiful. Full stop. From the first tone to the last. The German paper FAZ said that A Winged Victory For The Sullen’s debut was like a moving image of the human soul; and if that was the case, then »Atomos«, Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie’s and Dustin O’Halloran’s second record, is a surreal dream, including every single facet of existence, ranging from what the tiniest atom must feel to eternity, rising above the roof tops and switching on the stars at night. »Atomos« is much less fragile than the first record. The duo has broadened its sound spectrum by adding electronic sounds, mostly synth-layers opening up behind pianos, like on »Atomos III«, while string instruments keep interrupting the scene. The record’s organic material always ends up swallowing the artificial sound, it integrates and assimilates it. Wayne McGregor, choreographer of the English Royal Ballet, turned to Wiltzie and O’Halloran and asked them to write the soundtrack for their new Œuvre. After all, the debut had already been a huge inspiration to him and the dancers. That’s how »Atomos« came into being, but it also proves that music always works as a universal language. Because it doesn’t take a mutual cultural understanding in order to be touched by this music; no experiments are needed, only atmosphere, this sound, dissipating over and over in endless echoes, until it recomposes once again. Sometimes it’s ambient, then classical music, sometimes you might call it post rock or even drone. It’s not really possible to point out what makes »Atomos« special. On »Atomos VIII«, for example, the whole construction of the sound keeps rising and lowering. All in all, this record is an existential experience, it’s something going much deeper. It’s life and death, joy and grief, it’s the whole spectrum. But it doesn’t concern the human itself, but rather the unlimited width of being as a whole. And it manages without a single word. It’s majestic elegance. It’s beautiful.
Adam Wiltzie
Eleven Fugues For Sodium Pentothal
Kranky