Jorge Grundman Isla is a New Age composer who began his career in his native Spain as a singer and keyboardist for a number of power pop groups. In the 1980s, however, he embarked on a journey toward a self-created music that touches on themes of environmental awareness, war, human rights, and emotional tribulations. WE ARE THE FORTHCOMING PAST, TAKE CARE OF IT finds Grundman continuing his compositional experiments, many of which are based on classical forms and motifs ("The Sons of the Cold," for example, sounds like a fugue run through a music box).
Grundman also owes a debt to pioneers of ambient music like Brian Eno and Tangerine Dream: cushions of sound generated by rich synth patterns comprise a good part of his aesthetic. But Grundman's sensibility is also cinematic, and he pits the sounds of violin, piano, horns, and acoustic guitar against light, surging beats to conjure scenic landscapes on which the listener can unfurl his or her own imagery. While a few tracks--"Teach Me to Whisper a Shout," for example--feature dense rhythms, the album for the most part is spacious and lilting, mixing equal parts melody and atmosphere to fine effect.
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