Corben: Sun Variants CS

If CORBEN’s 2021 album 'Whose Echoes Live In Memory' was a dimly lit journey through twilight ruins, this new full-length from the reclusive Canadian artist feels more like slipping languidly into a bay of bright blue water; all sun dappled coral, drifting currents, and brilliantly colored sea creatures. Recorded in the summer and fall of 2021 in various home studios in British Columbia and New York, the album's eleven tracks have a fleeting, ephemeral air entirely in keeping with their creator's restless movements. Tracks like 'Slow Kitty' and 'For The Captain' set the tone, with light percussion darting across the surface of playful synth sequences, shimmering string machines and vocoded melodies. 'The Sea Hazy' is a Panabrite-like journey through a tropical world of sheltered estuaries and swaying palms, while 'Rusty Tongue' rides a Giorgio Moroder bassline out past the breakers and into the sunset. There is a kind of effortless grace to all this, the mark of an artist working calmly and assuredly at the height of their powers. On 'Ain’t Easy' and album highlight 'Stolen Moments' the synths are stripped away, leaving only the delicate fragility of the human voice, like a lone swimmer on the horizon.