It’s all about the stitching. John Kowalski and Rian Trench’s third album as Solar Bears continues the duo’s explorations with ambient and electronic textures and pulses.
The pair shape widescreen cinematic blurs on tracks such as Man Plus, Wild Flowers and the beautiful Separate from the Arc, which enhance and amplify the sweep of the sound.
Advancement's slow-burning, pastoral drift hints that Solar Bears is heading towards scores and soundtracks. Their composition skills are certainly suited to the precision required to reflect words and pictures.
There are times when their sounds lack a distinguishing edge and they rely on exaggerating scale to get their point across (such as on Scale). Still, there is enough movement here to suggest it is something that will be overcome in time.
