THE ORB - Buddhist Hipsters (2025)
When I was young, certain sounds terrified me. They were too filled with unfamiliar emotions that engulfed me. Yet, I recall that there was always a sensation, almost a premonition: for someone, that (auditory) experience was known, usual. Nowadays, I realize that the emotional quality produced by those sounds did not align with a corresponding category in my transcendent experience. The feelings I experienced as a child, of bewilderment and allure simultaneously, I remember well. And I feel them - though with perspectives that are now refined - in this album. The atmosphere it evokes in me is identical to when I was a kid; only the level of self-awareness directed at what it is alters: an album hovering in void, nearly antiseptic. Recognizable sounds and familiar vibes... yet the feeling of otherness dominates in nearly all the pieces.
A few exceptions, scarce, ethereal, supported by the sounds. An internal experience that reverberates with emotional tones, awakening latent emotional states. As every album does for its listeners.