Rhins — The Invisible

Scottish composer and sound artist J. Quimby has created a new project, Rhins, to reassess the musical focus and emotion of his earlier years and bands, and give them new life and direction through analog synthesis, destruction, reconstruction, and other varied means of production. His second release, The Invisible, has seven tracks based in ambient, venturing out into harsher and more experimental areas through layering and destruction. The resulting album is an engaging ebb and flow of emotion and sound, with Rhins able to better communicate with the world through music than with words.

Starting with the strong, sweeping "Iona," The Invisible presents itself to the listener, grandiose in sound and scope, bearing its soul like the wind across the mountains. There is a lot of motion in the piece, moving forward quickly, the subtle noise acting like turbulence for this headlong flight. "Iona" feels very large, and Rhins fills all the available space with well used textures and sounds, its motion is well matched by its breadth, and it is a very dynamic and impressive opening track. Following such a huge track like that is no easy feat, but "Knights of the Invisible" manages to do so quite well. It doesn't try to keep up or match intensity, but rather exists on its own and lets its integrity do the talking. Quietly approaching, echoes from the cave come forth, slowly growing and filling the darkness with brightness, almost like a siren song from deep within. Forming up, whirling, and rising, soon a soft groove emerges, reminiscent of an 80's Italian horror film, the vibe is key here, the vibe pushes the vortex forth. This brings the synthesizers more to the front of The Invisible, and "Black Regent" allows droning synth layers to oscillate and weave together over each other like an ambient ocean dream. However, much like the previous tracks, the darkness emerges and the dream takes on a more nightmarish quality, with noisier characteristics joining in and the tone shifting. Keeping its restraint, "Black Regent" never dips too deeply into the abyss, just merely hints at its existence, and the darkness flavors this wonderfully vibrant track with depth and character. Sweeping higher again, "Self Interrupted" picks up from "Iona's" lofty heights, but a bit colder and less turbulent. Soaring like Gwaihir, this track can see all from its aerie up high, allowing the distorted effects to alter one's perception. Rolling out. layered, but probably the most traditional-sounding piece on the album, "Electric Woods" is lush and dense, its synths surrounding the listener like the eponymous woods. Full of mystery and wonder, this sylvan slice is meditative and its prominent synth lines give the song a real voice. Quickly rolling arpeggios form the frantic actions of "Spectrum Collectors," and it makes a nice departure from the previous track. Somewhere between ambient and synthwave/chillwave, the analog lines peak from the fray and give the listener clues to what lies inside. Much like J. Quimby's revisitation of older emotions and periods, the varied sounds will hit the listener differently depending on mindset during each playthrough. Channeling the sun on the sea, "Waiting for the Sea Eagle" wraps The Invisible on a bright, vibrantly ambient note. Following the same structure as the six prior tracks, this hits a big build about 2/3s the way through, adds a bit of noisy structure, then returns to form and fades out.

Rhins' The Invisible is an excellent ambient album that adds in some noisier elements to add grit and texture. When revisiting older periods of life, it's not always sunshine and rainbows, so one must be prepared to confront the dirt. Rhins expresses himself very well with his seven tracks, and they're all very engaging pieces of electronic art. Best suited for those with a good amount of time to invest, The Invisible is a great way to lock into a project for the afternoon and have a strong, lush soundtrack behind you.