photo courtesy of Zanov
Album Review of Zanov: Lost in the Future
Lost in the Future is French electronic music innovator Zanov‘s follow-up to his 2020 release Chaos Islands, which contributor Eric Harabadian reviewed here at the blog three years ago. A synth wizard since the 1970s, Zanov knows his way around a composition and delivers an enjoyable, engaging musical journey with Lost in the Future.
image courtesy of Zanov
As some of you may recall, I’ve discovered how useful it is to have instrumental music on my playlist, as I typically listen to my review queue while I work, and certain portions of my work lend themselves better to playing lyricless music while I work. Bland music is boring, but there’s a sweet spot instrumental collections can hit that make them well-suited for a brain-work soundtrack, with varied, interesting, engaging tempos, rhythms, and movements but without lots of attention-disrupting aural assaults. Lost in the Future hits such a sweet spot, with some of the interesting musical patterns perhaps even enhancing my ability to do quality analytical work.
Album opener “Quantum World” kicks things off with a little spacy energy before broadening the wall of sound and settling into a softly energetic mid-tempo progression whose insistent energy belies the song’s modest pace. It’s always a good call to start a record with a strong number, making “Quantum World” a wise introductory offering.
photo courtesy of Zanov
The following track, “Conscious Machines,” begins slow and sparse, gradually building in density and intensity before settling down again toward the end. For me, it’s an album track that sets up what follows.
What follows is “Brain to Brain,” which features a recurring sonic theme that becomes familiar and recognized with each additional listen. There’s a journey – from brain to brain, I suppose – as musical, synthesized synapses travel forth purposefully. I can’t quite tell if the song’s audio overtones are hopeful or foreboding; most likely, a little of both.
“Extended Life” opens with haunting, organic synthwork that reveals a meandering, exploratory musical canvas before reverting to its foreboding origins.
photo courtesy of Zanov
“Living With Robots” returns to the more tentative, explorative patterns from the middle of the preceding number, extending the musical theme into a richer, deeper sound throughout the track.
“Interstellar Travel” follows, initially with an echoing, church sanctuary-esque reverberation of the “Living With Robots” theme, then adding synth runs that seem to move through the composition, a movement that recalls and befits this song’s title.
The album closes with “Time Manipulation,” which pulls together the musical themes and sound sequences found elsewhere in Lost in the Future, providing a concise offramp for this well-crafted, synth-driven musical journey, reaching a moderately zippy tempo by its middle section, particularly when compared to the meandering nature of much of the rest of the collection.
In its entirety, Lost in the Future has, for the last several months, provided an enjoyable soundtrack to some of my analytical work. Now that I’ve written this review, I’m going to miss it. If your sector of the musical galaxy includes synth-driven instrumental music, Zanov’s Lost in the Future deserves a listen.
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