Bleep

King Midas Sound debut the first partnership of their Edition series, taking delicate loops lifted from the ambient electronic guitarist Fennesz's archive and perfectly fusing them with the group's rock-steady, strung-out, hung-out, broken-hearted elegant beats and pieces for an album on Kevin 'The Bug' Martin's spiritual home of Ninja Tune. Picking up where Midas' last album 'Waiting For You..' left off in 2009, Edition 1 continues the late night heavy-hearted trawl through dimly lit drinking dens and empty bars, but this time the setting has moved from the claustrophobic confines of inner-city London to the more spacious environs of modern life in Berlin, influenced by Martin's recent move to the city while the other group members also departed London, in the time since 'Waiting..' was released. Opener 'Mysteries', slowly falls into place as the warm synths slowly unfold around softly spoken vocals, coming across like a half-dreamt, half-forgotten take from Maxinquaye. Elements of Martin's recent work shine through on tracks such as 'Melt' which could be lifted from the same session as The Bug's recent collaboration with Earth, but with an unmistakeable KMS weight to it. Kiki Hitomi's delivery is as on-point as ever on 'We Walk Together' – soft vocals shine through like a full moon above the silently falling rain. The albums highlight and centrepiece 'Above Water' is the pick of the pack for us though, perfectly using Fennesz's talents for endless melancholy within far of slowly drifting away notes, to raft an epic thirteen minute plus ambient piece that could be one of the finest pieces of music anyone involved has put their name to, perfectly updating the Bowie abandonment found within the experimental tracks of side 2 of Low, whilst also giving nod to the Ambient compilations compiled by Martin in the early 90's and the early 00's Endless Summer by Fennesz, but also pointing the way forward for the group into vast and expansive directions of escapism.