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With the field recordings, the release at times resembles the more sublime moments of Set Fire To Flames, but with more strings and a slightly less bleak sound.
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Like David Byrne's underrated orchestral epic The Forest or Philip Glass' Koyaanisqatsi, Systems/Layers is cerebral and human, transporting you without insulting your intelligence.
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Rachel's albums are consistently greater than the sum of their parts.
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It seems distinct from the discography that came before it (in both a good and a bad way), with intermittent moments definitely treading foreign waters, for both the band and its devoted followers.
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It's a brilliant ambient musical experience-- you can tune it out if you choose and it'll still enhance your surroundings, or you can engage yourself fully and allow it to positively hypnotize you.
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Rachel's has produced one hell of a gorgeous concept album - a sort of Dark Side Of The Moon for the Debussy set.
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Its symphonic, seductive, resolute, yearning.
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Rachels can effortlessly create beauty, but what saves the record from saccharine blandness are the arrangements that almost distrust the groups strengths, refusing to leave beautiful passages uncomplicated by dissonance or some kind of sonic distraction.
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MojoA modern soundtrack for city life--an aural survival pack that pulls out moments of delicate beauty from all the shit and cacophony. [Dec 2003, p.122]
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Q MagazineA meditation on modern urban life that lets the city shine with mystery, menace and grace. [Jan 2004, p.118]
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Alternative PressRachel's create classical music for people who listen to bands like Boards Of Canada. [Nov 2003, p.100]
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UncutMostly, familiarly sombre patterns of piano and string quartet dominate this lovely album. [Dec 2003, p.118]
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FilterAn occasionally haunting, more often inspiring and riveting collage of the group's complex avant-melodics given more human characteristics by the inclusion of familiar sounds. [#8, p.108]
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Despite its handful of flaws, Systems/Layers is rife with ideas, and delivers its message, however encoded, with elegance and ingenuity.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 5 out of 6
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Mixed: 0 out of 6
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Negative: 1 out of 6
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Apr 9, 2012
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BenMar 17, 2008
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[Anonymous]Feb 20, 2005Every thing they do is consistently good.This is not quite as good as The Sea and Bells or Music for Egon Schiele.