BT's new cd, Emotional Technology, hits stores today. I mention this because many list members are stated BT fans, and I feel like sharing.
Anyway, I know it's incredibly premature to offer an opinion of a disc I have thus far not listened to in its entirety. But the first five songs, I have to say, are immensely satisfying. I know a lot of people were distraught when BT's previous full-length, Movement In Still Life, which was considered a classic in its expanded international release, arrived in the US as a truncated cd of radio edits and a focus shift from trance and break beat to pop and hip-hop. This, of course, left many US fans a little apprehensive when news of the release of Emotional Technology was broadcast.
The apprehension was legitimate if, ultimately, largely unneccesary. True, the song structures are closer to pop songs than club anthems, and the tracks are cross-faded rather than properly beat mixed. But BT has learned an enormous amount about the craft and art of making records from his experience working with the likes of Peter Gabriel, N'Sync, and even cutting Movement In Still Life almost in half for its release in the US. The pop song structures are emboldened by setting them in the extended context of the electronic music, giving the compositions room to grow, develop, and breathe while at the same time relieving the monotony which is the unintentional by-product of most dance-oriented electronic music. The result, a cd that is both epic and immediate that plays consciously across the emotions with the kind of machine-like grace that has and continues to epitomize BT's best work.
Your cooler pop radio stations are playing "Somnombulist (Simply Being Loved)", which is an excellent representation of the style and quality of the entire cd (which holds the best rewards in reserve for those who are brave enough to give the full disc a listen). Smart listeners will detect deliberate references back to specific moments and musical themes in "Movement In Still Life." Rather than appearing as he's repeating himself, the references provide points of continuity from the last release to the present one, filling in the gaps for those consumers who are familiar only with the edited release.