Marconi Union - A Lost Connection (Just Music)

A Lost Connection, the fifth album from Marconi Union gives off an intense vibe of isolation. There is a very bedroom music feel to it, in the sense that it seems like it wouldn’t transfer well to a live setting, and in the sense that it feels very personal, almost as though it wasn’t intended to be shared with a wider audience. That being said, it has moments of great beauty.

Synthesizers are played like instruments, instead of treated as just noise making machines, and there is an element of great control to even the most fleeting sounds. When this same careful treatment is applied to more conventional instruments, it magnifies the sense of space and the cold, lonely feeling of the songs. Even simple piano compositions are transformed into something almost mystical with echoing overdubs and warbling notes.

Songs often take on otherworldly qualities. ‘Debris’ opens with something like radio static and later morphs into a chilling upper octave sound that would be used to announce a ghost in an old horror movie. Even a seemingly throwaway click track on ‘Hinterland’ possess a unique character, whether it distracts from or leads a song in an unexpected direction. The whole album is so intricately assembled that repeat listens will not only reveal different elements to the songs, but actually make the songs sound new. A lot of time could be spent with A Lost Connection before the listener has heard enough to have a fully realised picture of the album.