The Third Eye Foundation - The Dark

It's been a while since I've heard anything from Third Eye Foundation. The last I heard was excellent Little Lost Soul and although I have taken a keen interest in the solo/side project of Matt Elliot, it's not been the same without Third Eye Foundation around.

The Third Eye Foundation produce something quite unusual. It is primarily dark drum and bass but it could be said that it is more IDM but it is more than either of those genres, sometimes bordering on ambient, sometimes almost classical. A common theme to the sound is the haunting operatic vocals that are warped and twisted, swirling around the complicated and dissected beats. And this album is no different.

It opens with some lovely piano softy tinkling away as more sounds, the characteristic eerie vocals gradually fading in and the beats growing in complexity and edits. As with nearly all Third Eye Foundation tracks, there is a soft and melodic chord progression pinning the song down, holding the song from escaping in to complete abstraction.

The album seems like it is intended to be listened to as a whole as all the songs are mixed in to one another and change seamlessly, creating a forty three minute epic sound-scape. The songs are quite lengthy but the don't get boring, even though they have no definable structure, with the edits and the constant changing sound keeping your interest all the time. The pace builds throughout the album, peaking at almost a wall of sound.

The title is very apt, dark it is. It is the kind of music you can imagine going through the head of someone completely unstable but it is focused, cleverly written and strangely ambient at the same time as being intense and not the easiest record to listen to. It may not be an album that you will love the first time you hear it and you probably have to be in the right mood for it but when you are in that certain frame of mind, this is a masterpiece.

Maybe not for everyone as it is fairly avant-garde in its own way, but you should give it a chance, it will probably grow on you.

This video is quite short but it sums the album up well, showing the orchestral and melodic beauty as well as the intense beats.

Posted in: dark,IDM,third eye foundation