Totally human algorithmic music
Created with the help of machines, Tobias Reber's "Mother of Millions" is straightforward music that speaks for itself.
Mother of Millions opens with long strata of sound shaped by variations in harmonics. A landscape at once industrial and meditative: rather metallic sounds move slowly, calmly, thanks - among other things - to interesting work on the envelope. An introspective atmosphere that proves that electronic music can be totally organic. The listener is centered on his or her own breath.
The second movement continues in this gentle vein. We are taken by the hand into beautifully crafted dreamscapes. The bouncy rhythm of the third movement slides us into dance, then back into meditation. Unusually for electronic music, each movement has a referential note around which the other sounds gravitate, so that we can easily glimpse tonal harmonic relationships. Foreign notes and variations in micro-intervals seem to be ornaments. In this way, Tobias Reber is not wiping the slate clean, and his music is the logical modern continuation of a well-established tradition.
The term "algorithmic music" may frighten the most traditionalists. Conceptual? Cold? Uninspired? Not so with this work by Tobias Reber. Although this music is created with the help of machines, it remains totally human, profound, full of poetry and images. It's music that's direct, that speaks, that tells a story!
Tobias Reber: Mother of Millions. Composed, performed, recorded and edited 2016-2020. Bandcamp
