Dark Ambient Review: Memory 417
Review by Casey Douglass
In Quantum’s
cyberpunk ambient album Memory 417 is themed around the near
future, but a dark one, one in which things are coming to a head. It
paints a bleak picture of a future in which humans have taken their
DNA meddling and cybernetic prodding into whole new realms of
exploitation and divergence. Post-humans rub up against
anti-transhumanists, while semantic networks connect the soulless. I
suspect social media still runs on pure outrage too, even though this
isn’t mentioned.
What we have in Memory
417 is a dark prophesy, one made up of audio textures and sounds
that leave the listener almost tasting the damaged circuitry and
abandoned architecture around them. It makes a great use of voices
and speech, and does this from the very start, with the opening track
beginning with a kind of robotic exhalation, and later featuring a
news-cast presentation about nuclear physics and the A-bomb. It
creates a compelling effect.
The voice-samples
feature in other tracks too, adding a hint of explanation as to what
might be happening, or simply hinting at the lack of certainty, such
as the “Are we dreaming?” question early in track two: Dream. I
really appreciated the flavour that the voices added, the only
drawback for me personally being that they jolted me enough that I
can’t really use Memory 417 as a relaxation album. They are
fine when you aren’t semi-dozing, but can startle a bit if you are
dropping off. Of course, I can live with that, but felt it worth
mentioning as you might be someone who also enjoys using this kind of
music to relax to.
As Memory 417 is
a ‘cyberpunky’ album, you can expect the things that go along
with this. Warm electronic tones and beeps, echoes and melancholy
notes. There are also various cinematic sounds to add extra flavour
to the soundscapes it creates. Odyssey features a countdown, followed
by an air-raid siren, with an ominous rumbling thereafter. Suicidium
is another track that makes a good use of these kinds of sounds, with
this one using the sound of rubble raining down and appearing to trap
a shocked victim. Away from environmental sounds though, Itarius
Mourning was my favourite “mellow” track, as it features a
quieter soundscape that eases its way into an airy, piano note fed
atmosphere.
I
often spend time talking about the mental imagery an ambient album
triggers in my mind. Beyond the A-bomb devastations and stifling
rubble, Memory 417 brought about a variety of scenes. A good
number featured the reflection of neon-lights in puddles, which has
always been an image I enjoy. Many mental images featured abandoned
buildings, concrete walls falling to moss, and water dripping through
floors and apertures it was never envisioned to ever meet, let alone
seep through. I also saw shadowy figures who seemed more powerful (or
sinister) than any “regular” person I happened to see. Agents of
both sides of the conflict maybe? Who knows.
Memory
417 is a gloomy yet illuminating foray into a possible cyberpunk
future. It’s an album where mechanical despair mingles with human
desperation, with neither side likely to come out on top. Well,
actually, there is someone who comes out on top: the listener, as
they get to safely dip into this glimpse of a dystopia in the making,
and to come back safe and not remotely glowing in the dark. That’s
a win in my book.
Visit
the Memory 417 page on Bandcamp at this link, and you can also check
out Anno MMLXXIV in the video below:
I was given a review copy of this album.
Album Title:
Memory 417
Album Artist: In
Quantum
Label: Cryo
Chamber
Released: July
23rd, 2019
