Listening Center - Diaphanous Structures (2020)

Composition, production and photography by David Mason.

"Devoid of beats and obvious rhythms, pieces like ‘Sapling Three’ rely on a languid form of forward motion, buzzing with latent energy and overlapping, effervescent arpeggios. With the addition of soft reverb and subtle modulations and a coda filled with urgent bass sequences, these pieces take on a melodic intricacy without ever sounding anything other than minimalistic...The album is punctured by three short, sub-one minute vignettes, wrapping complete and intense emotion in the briefest of statements. While ‘Sad Center’ has a profoundly moving quality, the wonderful ‘Interior Hue’ is a classically-leaning piece nodding contentedly in the direction of early electronic albums and the long shadow cast by their innovative sound palettes."
(Mat Smith, Further)

"For those accustomed to the more bustling micro-beats-driven side of the Listening Center’s repertoire, which reached somewhat of a percussive pinnacle with last year’s Retrieving LP, this lower-key and lower-tempo affair will feel like quite a departure. Yet it should be a welcome one. The product of Mason deploying an Oberheim polysynth previously acquired for a soundtrack project and mothballing his drum machines, these eleven essays in ambient-minimalism are led heavily by impressive antiquarian-foresight.

The collective results are both soothing and imposing, living-up to the apt Diaphanous Structures title by being gauzy but grounded and improvisational yet focused. Mason pushes proceedings through fleeting electro études (“Opening Space” and “High Rise Vista” ), pirouetting neo-classical passages (“Interior Hue” and “A Torn Hedge”), buzzing retro-space-age mood-pieces (“Hovering Haze” and “Sad Center”), spooked subterranean soundscapes (“Glass Phantoms”) and spacious pellucid sprawling (“Clear Gates”). Whilst skilful yet subtle nods are made along the way to Tangerine Dream, Wendy Carlos, early-Steve Roach, Paulina Anna Strom and on/off labelmate Polypores, the core of this album sits inside a bespoke sonic bubble."
(Adrian Pannett, Concrete Islands)