Eden Grey’s latest conceptual album ‘In the Forest of Fangorn’ gives you a glimpse into a possible distant future, and it is a glimpse that might leave you feeling unsettled.
Broken
Full of textures that feel glitch-like, the opening track ‘Broken’ feels like the soundtrack to walking through a futuristic dystopian world. A questioning, mysterious air surrounds the track, capturing an uncertainty regarding the world. An atmospheric start to the album, this one sets the tone for the rest of the album.
Reflection
Composed of erratic synth layers, ‘Reflection’ echoes a sense of dense confusion and unsureness. Multiple machine-like sounds are blended to create an urgent soundscape that can lean towards discomfort. The track conveys what it must feel like to judge our positions in a world that no longer feels like our own.
Won’t Stop
An eerie, haunting sound drives ‘Won’t Stop’ which can make you think of treading through uncertain and dangerous landscapes. There is an air of thrill and persistence in the song that conveys the sense of having to move ahead at the risk of the unknown and unsafe.
Transforming
Contemplative and investigative, ‘Transforming’ feels like being in a lab where ambitious experiments are being carried out. There is a sense of a newness approaching in the song, as the different elements of the alienated world combine to bring forth a level of balance.
Rainshine
Rich in texture, ‘Rainshine’ feels like the natural world blended with the world of technology. There is a level of warmth in the track, which sets it apart from the previous ones in the album. This song feels like acceptance in the face of newness.
Quasar
Urgent yet stable, ‘Quasar’ feels like normalcy that has dawned on a now unnatural world. After all the changes and adjustments, this song feels like a blend of the normal and alien to create a common ground where functioning is possible.
Cosmos
Imagine floating through new, unknown landscapes, and ‘Cosmos’ would fit right into that imagination. Expansive and atmospheric, the track is composed of gentle, warm synth textures along with pulsating beats, giving it the feel of an anchor in an alien world.
Dub Life
Echoing synths and brooding basslines, ‘Dub Life’ feels like moving through a world of the distant future in slow motion with awe painted on your face. The track echoes a sense of contemplation, understanding, and acceptance in the face of everything being different to what you’ve known all along.
Starshade
Starting out eerie and broken, ‘Starshade’ takes on the feel of falling through a void gently as you look at all that you’re falling from. There is a sense of intimacy as well as expanse in the track, giving it a very dual natured sound.
Bird Chirp
True to its name, ‘Bird Chirp’ does sound like what you’d expect birds to sound like in a world that no longer looks like the one we live in now. Blending the natural and the digital, the song echoes a future that could be if we don’t take care of our present.
The album feels like a foreshadowing of a time that, if not us, the future generations might call their own, making the work an important one as well as a sonic brilliance.