Alien Alarms – 0 to 1
Release Date: September 30, 2022
Label: Independent
Format: Album | CD/Digital
Duration: 45:06 | 14 Tracks
Genre: Breakbeat / Electronica / Glitch
Origin: Brighton, England
Homepage | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | bandcamp | SoundCloud | Spotify
On the last day of September in 2022, Brighton’s Jim Purbrick, also known as Alien Alarms, has released his first longplayer „0 to 1“. The fourteen-track album is a coherent sonic journey. Alien Alarms travel through space and time as the music illuminates politics and privacy, memories and mistakes, literature and dancefloors, rest and unrest, zero and one, and all the numbers between. The electronic soundsapes on „0 to 1“ reach from silence to noise and thus they present a holistic view on life on Earth in modern times since the 19th century until present day.
Romanticized Past and Present-Day Romanticism
The two major posts from which the sonic panorama on Alien Alarms‘ „0 to 1“ is created are the late 19th century (in Europe) with its Romantic literature, early modern or enlightened ideals on the one hand, and the post-modern, parially post-truth reality of the 21st century on the other hand. With prototypes of enviromentalism on the one side and a burning planet on the other end, this short period of time may appear like a straight skid at first sight. But not only due to the versatile tempi that Alien Alarms‘ a closer look reveals that the good ol‘ days have not been so great all the time, and that the present has a lot of beauty to offer, too.
Slowly we accelerate
Just like life in general has become faster over the last two centuries, „0 to 1“ is coined by a gradual acceleration in tempo over the course of its fourteen tracks. Relaxed and atmospheric Electronica themes define the album’s opening phase. As the release approaches its centre, Alien Alarms shift the soundscapes towards more dynamic Glitch sections which then burst into activating Drum’n’Bass and Breakbeat towards the end. And finally, „0 to 1“ ends in the same sample as it began with – Alien Alarms have formed the full circle.
Writers, Intellectuals, Musicians
Jim Purbrick – the person behind Alien Alarms – has produced and arranged the soundscapes on „0 to 1“, and has also written many of the lyrics. In seven of the tracks the words were loaned by famous writers and thinkers. Those are Lord Byron (‚Music on the Waters‘), E.M. Forster (‚The Machine Stops‘), H.G. Wells (‚A Morning Star of Hope‘), Emily Brontë and Eric Mackay (‚Storm Warning‘), Conrad Aiken (‚Music I heard with You‘), Andrew Lang (‚The Wheather Broken‘), and Karl Marx (‚Means of Production‘).
Furthermore, Alien Alarms has received musical support by sixteen guests on „0 to 1“:
Kristin Hughes – vocals on ‚Music on the Waters‘,
Jenilee – vocals on ‚The Machine Stops‘,
Linda Ronald – vocals on ‚Smile with my Eyes‘,
Robert Purbrick – saxophone on ‚Memory of ’05‘,
Cori Samuel – vocals on ‚A Morning Star of Hope‘,
Nick Tuckett – modular synthesizer on ‚A Morning Star of Hope‘,
Maria Kasper – vocals on ‚Storm Warning‘ and ‚The Weather Broken‘,
Elouise Oyzon – vocals on ‚Storm Warning‘,
Jamie Matthews – guitar on ‚Storm Warning‘,
Matt Ward – guitar on ‚A Memory of ’93‘,
Alan Davis Drake – vocals on ‚Music I heard with You‘,
Dan Szelazek – drums on ‚A Memory of ’95‘,
Tim Chilton – keyboards on ‚A Memory of ’95‘,
Geoff Shearcroft – bass on ‚A Memory of ’95‘,
Luke Purbrick – vocals on ‚A False Memory of ’04‘, and
Jake Baker – vocals on ‚Means of Production‘.
Music from Planet A
Alien Alarms‘ „0 to 1“ is part philosophical and political, part emotional and sensual view on life and humankind. It is an album that can be used as motivation for fighting for a better future, as food for thoughts, and as a starter for a party. 7/10 Mangoes
Featured Playlists:
MangoRotation
MangoWave Release Radar
The Mango 100: Ambient / Drone
The Mango 100: Cinematic Sounds
The Mango 100: D’n’B / Glitch / Jungle
The Mango 100: Dark Pop / Trip Hop
The Mango 100: Dream Pop / Synth Pop
The Mango 100: Tunes for the Road
Sound of the UK: The Mango 100
[…] 0 to 1 […]