Elements of Light

The results are at times brazenly brilliant. [Mar 2013, p.65]

Aptly an entire side-project, rather than a one-off on the electronic producer’s next album, the idea is fully fleshed into a discovery of solid notes.

The extroverted, joyful melodies of Photon or the sustained brilliance of Spectral Split seem like brilliant recontextualisations of Weber’s artistic virtues.

As a whole, Elements Of Light might feature a fair amount of padding, and it might not be quite as original sounding as the idea would suggest (other than the aforementioned Bjork comparison, there are more than a few moments that recall Aphex Twin at his more contemplative), but even so it does offer more than enough to satisfy as a listening experience, rather than just a curiosity.

It's unclear if Elements of Light represents an evolutionary mark for the producer or a one-off exercise inspired by a summer's day in Oslo, but as an effort at minimalism, it's a modest success at best.

The fluid blend of tracks makes it more of a single piece than a series of highlights and also-rans. [Feb 2013, p.108]

The pairing, and subsequent output, of Weber and the Bell Laboratory is expected and mundane.

Fusing techno with campanology is a bold aim on paper; in practice it's a revelation. [Feb 2013, p.91]

The musical ideas here will be readily familiar to anyone who has heard Pantha du Prince's work before.

This five-part suite expertly blurs boundaries between Weber's sequenced beats and the florid, cascading melodies of the carillon (played expertly by Vegar Sandholt).

Elements of Light ultimately feels like a stop off between Black Noise and whatever Pantha Du Prince has waiting on the horizon.

'Spectral Split' is the pick, 17 minutes of tropical marimba, but the seamless whole is a joy, locking you in as you float downstream.

While each movement works on its own, Elements is best experienced in one long pass.

Weber's creative theoretical and instrumental approach is unique, but the abrasive and connotative tonal qualities of the carillon often overshadow the colourful subtleties of the finer details of his delicate arrangements.

Elements Of Light is missing momentum and velocity--two things needed to sustain an all-instrumental symphony. Unfortunately, this means the album ends up as pleasant background noise-and not much more.

Depending on the vantage point, it's either a logical progression or a creative dead end.

Elements of Light begins and ends contemplatively, letting metallic tones shimmer and sustain.

The instrument [carillon] affords Weber a chance to expand his hibernal sound in various interesting ways, but ultimately this feels more like a scholarly exercise than a fully realised album.

Pantha du Prince has gone one further and created a piece of music that soothes and entices even the most impatient of modern ears.

The melodies' stoicism seems to reflect much of the empty, brutal beauty of modern life.

Weber masks the scale of the enterprise with typical grace. [Feb 2013, p.77]

This isn't a record to dip into, but an absorbing, cerebral and often funky trip.

Here, there's a sense of picking at a strand of inspiration and seeing how it flows toward a form of endgame, albeit one that still prickles with possibility.