Independent (label)
17 October 2017 (released)
28 December 2017
Returning with an impressive twelfth album is Israel-born electronic producer Dylan Tauber. His newest release, Sounds From Space merges ethereal ambient textures with predominately minimalist beats for a chilled-out atmosphere to drift off to. Joining him to add another ghostly layer on the album are siren-voiced singers Enlia and Francessca Belisario. The two trade off duties for the majority of the tracks although their presence tends to be primarily to accompany Tauber's music with the vocals rarely given to any lengthy lyrical passages. This suits the mood just fine, leaving the vocals blowing in the wind. Sounds From Space plays like a mixtape of sorts with remixes and an alternate take in a different language dispersed throughout.
Airy soothing synths and rattling echoes introduce the album in '11:18:16'. The motif continues through to 'Clouds' where it's joined by Enlia's calming angelic incantation. Her voice following Tauber's score like a feather caught in an updraft, listlessly falling back to earth. 'Lost On Mars' continues to take advantage of Enlia's beautiful voice telling a tale of isolation over tribal drums.
In three different songs, '12-16-16', 'Take Me to Space' and its Hebrew remake, Tauber reuses the same beat, a slick eastern flavoured loop featuring sitar and other stringed instruments. The latter two feature vocalist Francessa Belisario's enchanting outer space lament. In certain cases, the reuse might seem like a thematic call back but in this instance, it's hard to tell whether it was intentional or just added to fill up more space to round out the LP. '12-16-16' appears to be just a demo of the later versions. This repetition happens again with the single 'Carmen Song', 'He Loves Carmen' and the remix.
In the end, Sounds from Space has the potential to be a dreamy album that takes you on a trip. However, being met over and over with the same loops as if the demos and finished versions were all included in the finished product takes the listener out of their ethereal experience to wonder if the album was left on shuffle or repeat. Trimming the fat and just leaving the featured songs, with perhaps the remixes tacked on the end would have made for a much better final product
