Entheogenic - Enthymesis

[johnb820]

 

Enthymesis –Thymos = frame of mind/ vitality, meaning: – ‘emphasizing with one’s own mood’ ‘consideration’ or also ‘reflection’

Aeon, gave to her enthymesis substance alone, without form.

 

Enthymesis is the 8th Entheogenic studio album, released June 23, 2014 once again on bandcamp. This nearly 78 minute collection of 8 tracks is quite a lot of music to digest all at once. And when I realize that this album could not fit on a CD alone I marvel at both the amount of work put into this release and the fact that the CD feels so obsolete. Not a second of this incredible album could have been cut off.

 

I have been really excited about the direction this project has been going the last two albums and Enthymesis in fact advances the Entheogenic sound in yet a new direction. Straight from the beginning the cover looks different. It's space, no lush green forests or psychedelic alien Gaia figures. It's a triangle with a rainbow passing through it. It reminds me of Dark Side of the Moon, a very interesting observation in light of the way this album sounds so different.

 

Enthymesis starts off with a mostly ambient piece titled Autopsia. The sounds of nature are still there but are hidden behind spacey alien effects. It sounds to me this track makes use of a sample from Pink Floyd's, On The Run which I also believe was used on Shpongle's Tickling The Amygdala on their recent album. Regardless the middle of the track features some interesting broken beat percussion.

 

Infrasensory is really the first track to give us a better indication of what is to come throughout the album. It starts off with some otherwordly synths before acoustic guitar fades in. A slow downtempo almost blues like groove starts and it's joined by harmonized vocals singing some kind of made up language. I have never heard something like this from Entheogenic before and I can see how some might not enjoy the vocals if you hadn't enjoyed them on the last several albums but give it a chance and the song will enter your soul and heal you from within. The final part of the song has a trancey arpeggio synth and some more weird sound effects.

 

Planetary Medicine is the next track and it follows similarly to the previous one. I can't help but feel how soft and warm this style is, slow burning, trancey, and yet down to earth. The fourth track, Silent Knowing takes a slightly more serious turn, making use of darker melodies and vocals. The song shifts between several time signatures, the middle part making great use of 5/4. It closes with a harmonizing of the opening segment wandering into a guitar solo before finally fading out on the same guitar line as the very beginning.

 

Enthymesis is a slightly faster paced song with less emphasis on the drums and more on a repeating progression between guitars and vocals. This song also contains some cool electric guitar parts scattered throughout. Eluesis is even faster paced with a tight groove underlying it with lots of cosmic synth lines and the usual effects work from Entheogenic.

 

Spinning Elementary Matter is a little over 16 minutes long with a lot going on. It begins with a great quote from Terrence Mckenna (who did you expect?). As seems to be the theme with this album there is lots of pure beatless ambience at the start of the track and towards the end of the track. Lots of really great melodies are thrown in here, a little bit of everything from flutes to electric guitar, to acoustic guitar, etc.

 

Finally the album ends, just like Anthropomorphic, on an uptemo dance track. Terma is a fine trance track itself moving along at a swift pace with lots of swirling melodies and percussion elements. It sounds like a mix between morning fullon and recent goa, not so far from Solar Field's occasional journeys into trance.

 

Overall Enthymesis is yet again another masterpiece from this project that does not seem to show signs of letting up. There is 78 minutes here of quality music from beginning to end and while I can see how some might not enjoy this new direction I find it a really refreshing blend of cosmic shpongle-like ambient and earthly acoustic elements. The guitars and vocals are aesthetically fascinating when put together with weird alien sounds. This is healing music for the body mind and soul.

 

Check it out at http://entheogenic-usr.bandcamp.com/album/enthymesis.

[technosomy]

agree completley.... i am loving this album

highly recommend to anyone who has loved any of their albums, or like shpongle etc

[Ilgaz]

I like this album very much = )

[Dolmot]

This nearly 78 minute collection of 8 tracks is quite a lot of music to digest all at once. And when I realize that this album could not fit on a CD

Really?

[johnb820]

Really?

 

Ah, you are right actually. I had the assumption that a CD can only hold 74 minutes but after some research it seems a standard red book CD can be overburned to hold up to 80 minutes. Still pretty close to that limit with this album though!

[Redington]

Yeah this album is very... shpongolesque. Which I don't mind. It's been awhile since I've listened to Entheogenic. So I thought I would poke around and see what they've been up to. Kinda surprised they've been somewhat busy releasing music the last few years.

[Balance]

I love the title track. Amazing electro-folk style. This is easily their best & most mature album. It's imo their least heavily Shpongle influence work, which is great to hear their own sound more.

 

Oh my only complaint is including uptempo tracks at the end of their last e.p & this. I'd much prefer they do an e.p or album of uptempo separately.

 

Anyway, great music for just kicking back. Not as intense as Shpongle or Shulman IMO. More tracks with acoustic guitar please, it's so wonderfully relaxing.

[Jon Cocco]

I''m not a big fan of this album. I like the opening and some of the later tracks. I was hoping for more magic throughout. They experiment more. For me its a hit-and-miss, i.e. vocals. They innovate at times with the music which is pretty nice, sometimes quite beautiful.

 

Autopsia is mystical, atmospheric, and interesting. The Terrance McKenna samples I could have done without, but the don't make or break the song or album. Otherwise, solid track.

 

Infrasensory's voices are okay, but they do little to hook me. There's a very pretty and relaxing ambient segment in the 12th and 13th minute, but the majority of the song is not like that. I would have preferred more engaging (less vocal being the focus) musical development in the first two-thirds akin to the attractive end.

 

Planetary Medicine starts our promising, with running water and a well orchestrated approach. The voices that son enter don't really grab me though, and since they take precedence over everything else, I lose interest with the overall song pretty quickly.

 

Silent Knowing is the second track to grab my attention. The voices took some getting used to, but they're more harmonious here with the music. The music is good and the vocal work is unique. Good track.

 

Enthymesis starts out with guitar and reminds me of Hicksville. Music has feeling and seems to tell a story with the vocals which I cannot clearly understand (what they're saying) on any of these tracks. The sound/melody work is very nice here.

 

Eluesis is another solid musical track with harmony. I have trouble getting used to the incoherent voice lyric/singing on the song (and overall album) though. Maybe I'd enjoy this more if they were singing in English? Musically the song sounds good.

 

Spinning Elementary Matter thankfully has less lyrics. I have a better chance of floating away here. I could have done without the Terrence McKenna samples, and again, they don't make or break the track. Overall good track.

 

Terma is good for an uptempo track. These guys may as well come out already and produce an uptempo album. This song is catchy; it develops, evolves; it's involving throughout. It would have fit best probably being alongside 7 other uptempo tracks (as Solar Fields has done on his few uptempo albums), but I find it quite refreshing, and one of my favorites on the album actually, even if purists would have preferred a chill track to close the album.

 

Favorite tracks - 1, 4, 5, 7, 8

 

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I really love their track, "Invisible Landscapes" (from 6:30 forward) on their Module 01 album. You can stream it on YouTube which is thankfully helping these less known, talented artists to get wider exposure. The whole song is solid but the last act is filled with magic, feeling, and heart. It's everything I love about an evolution in Entheogenic's style to more mystical, magical storytelling tracks. I love it. Evocative tracks that awaken my senses, open my heart, and expand (uplift my) mind is was what I was hoping to experience more of with this album.

 

Invisile Landscapes

 

Not a bad album by any means. Just not one of my favorite releases by them as a whole.

[frisbee]

I also much prefer the uptempo track to most of the singing. Some cheesy songwriting there and too much effects on the voices for my taste.

[Lemmiwinks]

Just stumbled on this one a week ago, and it has been on "repeat" ever since This is how Shpongle would have sounded if they kept to their old sound IMO. I know many people complain about the voices, personally I LOVE them (BTW anyone know what language they are singing in?).

 

Faves: 3,4 (!!), 5(!!!), 6(!!), 8(!!)

definaltely the most impressive album that has came out of the psy scene in 2014 (that I have listened to so far). 4,5/5