Review Summary: lush tones and expansive soundscapes steeped in pretension and a lack of profundity.
Textured to the point where it’s almost impossible to dissect individual arrangements,
A Picture of a Picture is an ambient album that revels in its completeness as a saturating piece of music. With a distinct post rock character amidst the collusion of synth and various sound effects, the album typically rises and falls but doesn’t quite succeed in creating a fully immersive atmosphere that remains memorable or hugely entertaining.
That said, the record is ideally not an invigorating composition; its true purpose lies in its soothing effect and meditative approach, and it must be commended on its extensive and enveloping style of ambience. Nevertheless, the arrangements found herein are noticeably stale and do somewhat dampen the mysterious aura that would normally surround such an album.
More specifically, the fairly identical ascent found in ‘Imagistic Continuity’ and ‘Negative Space’ was unfortunately conspicuous, and detracted from their effect. The former did appeal to an almost ‘holy’ sensation and was quite engaging because of it, while the eerie tones of the latter accentuated the otherwise diminished peculiarity, but on the whole neither can really attain a foothold in the listener’s mind.
‘Loss of Perspective’, which separates the two aforementioned tracks, is very aptly titled; nothing is really achieved with the song, and its excuse of being a gentle mid-piece does not quite make up for its dullness.
The lengthy final track ‘Horizon Line’ builds upon the musical themes expressed in the earlier tracks, both in its hollow sounding and almost disturbing synth effects and its forceful climax and subsequent diminution. Although capitalizing on the previous tracks’ absence of a sinister atmosphere, and incorporating an idyllic touch, the relative success of the final track greatly weakens the appeal of the album’s comparatively inferior first half.
In all honesty, the portentous nature of
A Picture of a Picture hampers its standing as an ambient album; it feels far too sure of itself, and hence does not go out of its way to create something markedly different or unique. There is a silver lining however; all the usual successes of an ambient album are generally achieved, and if you are looking for a flourishing and peaceful listen,
A Picture of a Picture will not disappoint. On a slightly critical note though, the record does not have that extra compositional or emotional thrust it needs to propel it away from alongside countless similar albums.
