In a world with vast seas of artistic mediocrity, in which most music that adheres to a standard but does not transcend it, a standard most people become acclimatised to since it serves its purpose and gets those endorphins flowing, sometimes you stumble across something new and are reminded for a small minority of artists that other people´s "good enough" means nothing to them. These artists are not content with their art until they have painstakingly poured the complete contents of their soul into it. Manuel Meyer has a beautiful soul. The opening track "Between", playfully bounces between trance like chord progressions and jarring slabs of synth noise. Album highlight "Collateral" has Zusammenklang focused squarely on the dance floor, infusing his tumbling bassline, with a sense of longing and regret. This tension between bliss and solemnity runs through the majority of Different Places, with Zusammenklang accompanying joyful melodies with despondent vocals and chilly synths. Title track "Different Places", as well as standouts "In silence", "Infinite", and "Variant" each approach this balance in their own ways, keeping the listener guessing over the course of the album. With Different Places Meyer manages to achieve the balanced equilibrium of having the duality of utility (club and home listening) that many artists aim for but don´t quite hit. Mayer fashions elaborate sonic structures that slowly emerge dancing from deep and rich foundations, and the product is a multi faceted construction that can be digested from many angles, urging you to listen again and again. The use of such a wide pallet of instruments and sounds all towards the same goal provides the album with a consistency that ties the whole thing together. Each and every track will take you on a journey that will trigger personal nostalgias with its wealth of auditory scenes, whether you choose to lie back and soak it up with headphones on crank it out of your sound system and cut some shapes, it.
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