Downtempo rules !
by
In Good Time
I cannot believe this album has been buried under the mass of raw, uninspiring music out there. This album offers great production, melodies that stick, and an overall great, innovative concept. Must listen !!
Downtempo reborn?
by
BeatHarvester
Just discovered this gem of an album! If you like your downtempo to have some depth with subtle details, gently surprising twists and turns, progressively programmed beats and captivating, yet non-traditional, vocals/melodies, Eccotonic will take you there. To be honest, I have not heard anything quite like this. I hear traces of Tosca maybe, shades of Zero 7, and even Groove Armada and Massive Attack. I don't know, but Eccotonic definitely has a sound of its own. Eccotonic is the creation of Cato, a composer who has written music, scores and remixed for films and television (Stone, Smokin' Aces and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps are the ones I am familiar with). Yes, knowing that, it makes total sense because Eccotonic is very visual music. It makes you relax like much good chillout, but also gently challenges you to "co-create" as you are listening to these tracks. There are stories told, but they are open ended and invite you to fill in the blank spaces. The sounds of Eccotonic seem mostly electronically derived, but Cato clearly wants and manages to make them come alive, and as a living, organic foundation in the vocal tracks.
The album opens with Kiite, a relatively sparse yet driving track that draws you into its groove through the Japanese spoken word of one Naomi Suzuki. Then comes the very different, and quite literally, A Beautiful Thing. This track introduces you to Jenny Campmany who co-wrote some of the tracks and brings to these very soulful vocals that have been processed and edited. Game Thing, I feel, is the most 'accessible' of the tracks but also here the vocal and beat treatments take you other interesting places. There are a couple of instrumentals which I feel are a bit less successful in comparison, as well as more spoken word (Post Scriptum). The title track is a beat driven yet meditative affair that uses Campmany's very sparsely worded vocals to great effect. Flowing indeed. The final track, Cache, takes you on a journey and is perhaps the most the most filmic of them all. I am surprised that this album has not yet been discovered by a bigger audience!
On Eccotonic's facebook page it says that a new album is in production. Since Flow Motion was released back in 2007, it seems clear to me that this is a side project for Cato. In the mean time, enjoy this album! It might be a while until there is more, but I am looking forward to what Eccotonic will present as its sophomore effort.
