Escapism? (E.S.C.M. - BT)

Member Name: a-true-ben

Product:	E.S.C.M. - BT
Date:	29/05/01 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good music, long CD (76 mins), calming

Disadvantages: Samey?

I was disappointed to find that this album meant Electronic Sky Church Music (on another website) as personally I always liked to think the title meant ‘Escapism’ (on the ESC = escape basis) and that would be a perfect title, because that’s what this album is. It’s perfect music if you want to drift peacefully away into a sleep; more trance inducing than trance.

‘ESCM’ is BT (Brian Transeau)’s second album, the first was ‘IMA’ (which practically invented trance) and the last was ‘Movement in Still Life’ (henceforth MiSL, a brilliant collection of breakbeat, trance, drum & bass, hip-hop and classical musicianship). To be honest, both of the others are probably better than this. So, why buy this one?

Well, for a start, this is still very good, it’s just the others are better. Mind you, this contains what some consider BT’s best song, the floor filler ‘Flaming June’ (one of his collaborations with Paul van Dyk). That’s not all. One of my personal favourites is opener ‘Firewater’ that contains ‘gothic’ elements, much like ‘Dreaming’ from MiSL. It’s a beautiful and haunting piece, with classical strings, female vocals and BT himself singing ‘Do you ask yourself/ Where am I now?/ When I’m six feet down… /Do you breathe in the water?’ (anyone who’s heard the end to MiSL will attest to the fact that he has a wonderful voice) What’s more, according to the sleeve, it was ‘Recorded in three and a half feet of snow’!

Other highlights are later in the album, although to tell the truth it’s all consistently good. ‘Solar Plexus’, for example, is a beast of a track. BT himself plays bass, guitar and drums, as well as singing, in a foray into rocky breakbeat territory that almost reminds me of Trent Reznor at times. This is followed by ‘Nectar’
; with its hypnotic vocodered chorus and, another hit, ‘Remember’ that features the sublime singing of Jan Johnston. To be honest, I’m not much of a clubber, but these sound so familiar now – did I hear them in a club and have them lodged in my subconscious? Or is it just from listening to this record? Either way, these tunes lodge themselves in your head; they’re almost addictive in fact!

By now, you’re probably wondering what it is that makes this worse than the other albums. Well, firstly it’s not immediate, it may take a year or so to grow on you (although that experience can be a wonderful thing) Even then though, it can drift by. This is fine if you want one 76-minute long song to chill out to, as that’s what this is like. There’s generally as much variation within tracks as between them, so the whole merges into one.

MiSL is quite clear – one track’s breakbeat, another trance, some drum & bass and you can dance to it. This album is more ambiguous. It’s like BT was going through experimentation that ultimately allowed him to produce MiSL, but which in the meantime made this record somewhat ambiguous and confused. With a few notable exceptions (‘Flaming June’, ‘Remember’) I’m not sure you can really dance to this. Therefore, if that’s what you’re after, I’d recommend IMA or MiSL instead.

On the other hand, all BT’s work is very good, and I’d still recommend this to a friend, just more for relaxation or post-clubbing than as a party album. It’s not where I’d start if I was new to BT though.

Summary: