On the third
Earthen Sea
album,
Jacob Long
travels deeper than he ever has before into dub, continuing the journey he has been on since his days as bassist of experimental D.C. hardcore band
Black Eyes
. The influence of dub was apparent in that band and its successor act,
Mi Ami
, both of which featured
Long
and
Daniel Martin-McCormick
, who has also journeyed into dub-influenced techno under his
Ital
alias.
's earlier albums as
(the first of which appeared on
's
Lover's Rock
label) were relatively minimalist, lightweight platters of hazy, gaseous, ambient dub techno which, despite being recorded in sunny San Francisco, had a fairly dark, muted vibe. Here
has stripped back his sound even more to its bare essence, removing pretty much any trace of "techno" except for a bare pulse. Moving from an easygoing lifestyle in Frisco to New York City, he found himself making chilled-out, relaxing tracks to help him unwind from the stressful hustle and bustle of the city. Starting with a collection of sequenced rhythms, he gradually removed all the percussion, leaving just a ghostly echo, with the result being something that's much closer to the sound of original Jamaican dub than anything else. On the opener "Existing Closer or Deeper in Space," rolling, reverberating stabs are mirrored by fluttering flurries of kicks and claps. "Window, Skin and Mirror" brings in the bass weight, as reverbed chords duke it out with polyrhythmic toms, claps, and what sound like seashells; Long built much of the album from samples of found objects that he made himself, describing them as "sounds that could be naturally occurring but aren't." Elsewhere, there are heavy, ambient swells of deep, thick chords over which cymbals, hats, metal percussion, and a mysterious crackling flicker in and out of the field of view; clattering woodblocks and tiny tinkles, deep in the mix, that could be wind chimes or a glockenspiel. "Living Space and Usually," the album's longest track, is a barely-there halation with the occasional echoing patter of oil drum; by the end of "Less and Less," almost nothing is left. Emanating blissful vibes from every note, this album will surely help the listener relax the way its creator intended. ~ John D. Buchanan