After showcasing his knack for emotive productions via various EPs throughout his career, including chart-topping singles on Hot Since 82’s Knee Deep in Sound and Dave Seaman’s Selador, the Swiss artist Several Definitions now reveals his first full-length album. It should come as no surprise that the artist found familiarity in what he calls the “Berlin style” of electronic music and notably, that of Oliver Koletzki’s Stil vor Talent.
Reborn After The Road is an intense and emotional affair, consisting of 14 tracks crafted using field and live recordings, switching between analogue and digital to mould a sonic atmosphere that emblazons the artist’s core ethos. Although the personal experience that sparked the inspiration for the LP is far from pleasant, Several Definitions’ style is audibly resolute.
Reborn After The Road, the album’s eponymous track, creates a fitting intro for the healing process that is to follow. Its airy pads and majestic strings sonically stand at the epicenter of the expressive album. Several Definitions continues to explore these sounds on vaporous slices like Pontcéard 32 or the more acidical Last Breath. The mellifluous, feminine vocals of LaMeduza on Learn To Feel and Her, as well as Spanish singer Goldsun’s crooner talents on the introspective Trust, on the other hand, showcase Several Definitions’ ability to work the human voice into his musical explorations. Taking introspection one step further towards darker realms, Senelity then feels like a rite of passage into the deeper and more intense segment at the album’s core. Over You briefly signals a turning point, with its alarm-like synths and grave leads, which is then followed by the glitchy resistance on Modular Spaces. The Escape presents itself as a natural occurrence after the string of turbulent, sometimes conflicting feelings – it is a final attempt at evading the depths of animosity. Next, Dancing With Valkyrie comes in as a determined resolution, introducing a new wave of more enduring, complacent moods, also evident on Help and Don’t Stop To Fall. Preparing the exit by way of straight-to-the-point techno, Target Topic rolls into Her, the final piece of the emotional puzzle.
Conceptually, Reborn After The Road is the sonic vessel for a cathartic process, conjuring up atmospheres reminiscing of different phases in life: childhood, the strength of unconditional love, and the inevitable sorrow that accompanies death. The humanity of the emotions on show explains the music’s universal appeal, as Several Definitions offers the listener a glimpse into an artistic healing process.