Transient Thoughts 002 - Dive Reflex Service - Dive Reflex Service 01

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 Transient Thoughts is a series of shorter reviews that capture my thoughts on a given album at a given time.  Most of these reviews have not had nearly as in depth of a look at my full reviews.  These thoughts are often formulated while walking through my neighborhood, and reflect how the album impacted me in those moments.  I hope you enjoy them.

I came across this album by pure chance. I was browsing one of my friends' recent Bandcamp purchases and the cover stood out to me. At first I didn’t know what it was. Was this some strange ambient album?  Some lofi hip hop? Whatever I thought this album was, I was not prepared for what I got.


Dive Reflex Service music takes what I presume are samples from every walk of life and stitches them together in a way that absolutely has no right to work. Let alone work as well as it does here.  Each song acts as a sort of gateway - a peek into another world.  One where we as humans are not allowed.


01 is slow, hazy, methodical, and most of all haunting.  The album wrapped me up in its sounds and did not let me leave.  It accomplished this by weaving together samples from different walks of life on top of slow minimalist melodies and vocals, all wrapped up in a mysterious production.  


Honestly the thing that makes this album special is the atmosphere.  It morphs the music from a collection of samples into something more spiritual, more otherworldly.  Listening to the music gives this sense that I am looking into a deep fog and I can only see the barest outlines of objects and people as they move about.  I am not supposed to be here. 


Was that a child that just giggled next to me? Who is that woman who keeps chanting “emperor?”  Why are there wind chimes when the air is silent? Why does everything feel like it is possessed by a spirit?  Are they asking me to join them?  


The album that Dive Reflex Service has created here is nothing short of brilliant. At 36 minutes the album begs for repeated listens and does not disappoint. There are so many small details hidden in the haze that headphones are nearly a must.


Once again I hear the spirits calling to me. Beckoning me in. Who am I to refuse their invitation?
 

 


 

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