Ajai Combelic, Chance, for us – ALBUM REVIEW #4
We don’t remember if Ajai Combelic contacted us first or if it was the opposite. Whatever it could be, we’re sharing our pleasure today. Listen to him, listen to us.
Whoever said that silence is golden clearly never listened to Ajai Combelic’s album “Chance, for us”. Luckily, we did, and it was in fact a great responsibility: welcome to the many worlds of your most unexpected senses and feelings.
Listen to the album here, but stay with us.
Intro: This intro might have been inspired by Jeff Buckley’s “Last Goodbye” and we are now happy to be in a world where we wanted to be, without even knowing it before. In fact, this world was only one of the first we explored the night of the review. A forest, a creek, the ocean, this song has it all. Just close your eyes. Or don’t, because this song is powerful enough.
Power: If you are familiar with incredible soul music (or let’s face it, with Kanye West’s “Gone”) your cognitive power (or your sixth sense, depending on your beliefs) will allow you to enjoy a piano intro reminding you of Otis Redding’s “Too Late”. Around the middle of the song, sonic heartbeats get in sync with your own sonic heartbeats until Ajai’s voice starts elevating you. Do the test.
For Us: Jeff Buckley’s back, and might have met Thom Yorke and Ray Manzarek on the way. Good news: the Vox Continental-ish sound of the organ brings you rivers of Euphoria. With a capital E, yes Sir.
Eurydice: The unspeakable celebration of the unspeakable beauty. Stunning. Period.
Don’t You: Mount Kimbie called and they want their sound engineering skills back.
Swell: The closing credits of your favorite mumblecore movie. You just haven’t seen it yet. Now that you have the song, hurry up.
At the Sunset: The beautiful ascent. The enjoyable ride. The splendid explosion.
In the Night: Enjoyable arpeggios speaking a language that we might have failed to understand. Some canned heat here and here, that we expected to watch burn freely. If we’re not mistaken, that didn’t happen.
Black Ghost: Elliott Smith brought back to life, listening to “Black Ghost” again and again. We joined with pleasure. This one might be THE one. A delight.
White: This one reminded us of Atticus Ross’ most seducing works on Love and Mercy’s soundtrack. If we had to stay in bed for three years like Brian Wilson did, we’d love “White” to be our soundtrack. Ajai, we’ll pay for the rights. We promise.
For Us (reprise): THIS ONE IS THE ONE (again) and you won’t need our words to be convinced since you have a pair of ears and some taste. As powerful as Mount Kimbie’s “Blood and Form”, as delicate as John Scofield’s most delicate guitar playing.
Move: Just enough influences to keep yourself stimulated and make you regret that the end of the record is near. A beautiful convergence making hope palpable. Hold on to it.
Region: Haunting loops, like a countdown to the beginning of something new. Want something new? Time to rewind and to listen to the album again. That’s what we did three times and we strongly recommend the experience.
The only thing we didn’t like about Ajai’s album is that it kept on tricking us: so many times, we firmly believed that the song we were listening to was our favorite. How wrong were we?
Reviewed by Marc Louis-Boyard for Slow Culture.
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