I listen to a lot of music online and much of it sounds superficially similar to PNFA’s album ‘Le Temps Perdu’
– that is- drums, baseline and synthesized atmospheres. However this album shows yet again that there’s a whole lot more to electronic music than just having the right sounds. The skill is knowing where to use them- and knowing where NOT to use them. This is something that PNFA excels at. Deep, understated and superbly chilled, every track on this album is poised and balanced, with every element serving its purpose and the resulting structures forming images in the listener’s mind. The percussion is fascinating and the baselines are sublime. It’s hard to pick a favorite track, and that’s because there’s no ‘filler’ here. However, if I had to, I might well go for ‘2 UHR 46’, despite the distinctly uncatchy title! The synths provide the listener with plenty of good frequencies, but it’s the baseline that’s nothing short of classic. It’s not the only great baseline on this album though… ‘Somata’ is a close second, with the amazing bass backed up by fascinating Latin percussion and a deep chiming melody. The opening track ‘Mana Madere’ is another favourite- a perfect example of well applied minimalism, superficially very simple but with something very different about the percussion that keeps your interest, along with the deep dubby feel to the rest of the track. ‘Veeb’ is in fact dub reggae! I’m increasingly a fan of this genre and it fits seamlessly onto the album, which works perfectly as an impressively coherent whole. ‘Terra Negra’ is deeper still and washes over the listener like a wave far overhead. The overall effect of ‘Le Temps Perdu’ is hypnotic.
Amazing stuff and a purchase I should have made much earlier!

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