Dazzling in its array of dreamy meditations and hypnotic rhythmic undercurrents, A House Between is an enthralling new album from The Numb Challenge. The Portland, Oregon-based alias of producer Chris Calarco caught our ears final yr with the grippingly atmospheric album Transmissions from a Troubled Radio, and A House Between continues to showcase Calarco’s penchant for fascinating soundscapes. A House Between succeeds with each lush synth-led entrancement and warming percussion, which melds hip-hop, downtempo, and dub-inspired trip-hop with cohesive attract.
“A Monkst” opens the album with glimmering synth intrigue, which strikes seamlessly amidst a relaxing bass pulse and head-nodding percussion. Swaying, lounge-set piano brightens the initially nocturnal soundscape. Wordless vocal results linger chillingly, re-emerging throughout a satisfying conclusion the place shimmers of piano traverse into silence. The following “All Souls” brings again the piano immediately, although with a extra serene magnificence as they push ahead inside a lo-fi hip-hop rhythmic attraction. A soulful vocal pattern — “you’re the one one which grounds me,” — infuses melodically. Vocal components on the album are sometimes sparser — just like the ghostly soothing on “Delia” or the glimpses of emotion throughout the Burial-esque “Bowling for Time” — although “All Souls” exhibits that the challenge’s sound can actually succeed with a outstanding vocal facet, as nicely.
An particularly magnetic melodic path charms on “Bloom.” Spacey synth swells transfer right into a shifting between twinkling momentum and subdued haunts, bolstered by dynamic rhythms that span from quaint click-clacking to extra snare-forward vibrancy — exuding a boom-bap nostalgia in its melding of these snares and regular digital pulsations. Fragments of glitchy results contribute enjoyably, conjuring the kind of radio-frequency starry-eyed emotions of The Numb Challenge’s earlier album. It speaks to the album’s versatility that the following observe, “Break up Width,” evoking one other world completely. “Break up Width” succeeds with a cool, jazz-touched bass drive — intertwining digital sounds with sparser precision, significantly because the playful piano traces assume a outstanding function.
Aptly feeling just like the strategy of a rewarding journey’s finish, the album’s ultimate tracks replicate a nighttime-set atmosphere in its caressing digital points and lusher percussion. “Leaves” balances lo-fi hip-hop comforts with effervescent synth doses and meditative vocal wordlessness, whereas “Nonetheless She Goals” builds with suave momentum as mellow keys transfer sporadically into an otherworldly radiance. Album finale “5 AM” additional enhances that sense of blur between evening and day — superbly straddling glistening trickles and lulling rhythms. The album’s central theme meditates on a state of in-between — because the title implies — and the eclectic structural traversal inside its tracks symbolize that nicely; a combination of beautiful vocal samples, caressing instrumentation, and alluring rhythms make for a blissfully intoxicating sound.
