Keith Kenniff's second album of 2018 is his first full-length to be released by Ghostly International, and perhaps the most tranquil, dreamlike Helios album yet. Doing away with the trudging downtempo beats of earlier Helios albums, this one plays like a series of rolling clouds rather than evenly constructed pieces. Other than the piano on "Dreams" and the guitar on "Upward Beside the Gate," individual acoustic instruments are hard to discern. As slow-moving and hazy as these compositions are, there are recognizable ...
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Keith Kenniff's second album of 2018 is his first full-length to be released by Ghostly International, and perhaps the most tranquil, dreamlike Helios album yet. Doing away with the trudging downtempo beats of earlier Helios albums, this one plays like a series of rolling clouds rather than evenly constructed pieces. Other than the piano on "Dreams" and the guitar on "Upward Beside the Gate," individual acoustic instruments are hard to discern. As slow-moving and hazy as these compositions are, there are recognizable melodies, and they do manage to evoke distant memories and half-forgotten feelings. Much of the album recalls the more downcast tracks from Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works II, but without feeling quite as isolated. The solemn "Eventually" is one of the immediate standouts, and perhaps the track which lingers the most after repeated listens. "Even Today" balances tranquility with a touch of menace, as tense distortion creeps up and an abstract synth motif flickers. "Harmonia" utilizes a looped, echoed cry, conveying an undefined but inescapable sense of longing. The album drifts out to the stars by its penultimate track, "Silverlight," yet the concluding "Mulier" feels like a vague sort of homecoming. Veriditas is just as relaxing as other Helios albums, but there's a greater sense of the unknown which sets it apart. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi
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