Every once in a while, whilst sifting through the expanses
of the chiptune world, you find a gem that reaffirms your belief in the genre’s
scope and power. ‘Little Bumble’ was one of those releases. Sent to me in a PM
by a member of chipmusic.org under the name of SJSFC, I opened up the link and
explored. I was met with a set of conflicting notions; it was hosted by FMA, a curated
and often high quality host of varying musical styles. However, on the other
hand, the artwork showed a badly drawn bumble bee. The release was a mere four tracks and a blurb
stated it “might appeal to those with young children”, painting it to be a
collection of low-quality and embarrassingly crude takes on chiptune.
Whatever my preconceptions might have been, what I
found inside pleasantly shocked. The tones and atmospheres can only be
described as elegant; I’d only ever
experienced tones so engrossing before in small snippets of ant1 and
Zan-Zan-Zawa-Veia’s work, and the level of emotion pushed around these four
short tracks rivalled that of peeR’s definitive release ‘Dances’. The EP
follows a freeform progressive jazz flow, giving it a sound that wouldn’t be
overly amiss appearing on Ubiktune. Countermelodies constantly shift and harmonies
consistently strike an internal chord; in fact the melodies are sometimes
touchingly beautiful.
Some of background glissandos in ‘4c iced tea’ are truly
stunning, the end section of ‘tuffet’ makes inspiringly subtle use of droning
pads, soft triangle bass and piano, whilst the harmonies and horns in ‘mighty
lilbumble bee’ are remarkable. Almost inaudible sample work in the background
gives the release a thick layering and the constant shift of thematic attention
gives it huge breadth. Whilst not every note ‘strikes’ with you, for instance
the opening 20 seconds of ‘tuffet’ are so dissonant it breaks the album’s pace
slightly, on the whole every second sounds precise and purposeful.
If you were to follow FMA’s advice and give this to small
children, the complexity within would be completely lost on them, however, the
gorgeous tones and warm square sounds would undoubtedly find a willing audience.
And that, in a crux, is the genius of this release; complexity without
sacrificing emotion. If you’re disillusioned with the quality of most chipmusic
output today, this will surely reignite your passion. A must download.
Tracklist:
1. kind gentle beautiful person
2. 4c iced tea
3. tuffet
4. mighty lilbumble bee
Head over to his site for more greatness!
