Reviews

Chain D.L.K.

From the ambient-laden shores of Bordeaux comes "Chapter Five", the latest chapter in Memory Scale’s ongoing exploration of electronic landscapes. French composer Arnaud Castagné, under his moniker Memory Scale, crafts a vivid sound world that feels both nostalgic and forward-looking, like leafing through an old photo album while dreaming of the future. This release, his third with Audiobulb Recordings, is a subtle yet expansive journey into ambient and IDM territory, blending the personal with the cosmic.

True to its description as an “imaginary soundtrack”, "Chapter Five" plays like a score to a movie that only exists in your mind. Each track is a scene, complete with texture-rich backdrops and delicately unfolding narratives. Castagné’s signature is his ability to seamlessly blend 90s IDM influences with warm, organic touches, such as the unmistakable tones of Wurlitzer and Rhodes keyboards, and the earthy presence of bass guitar.

The result is an album that oscillates between lush density and contemplative minimalism. It invites introspection, occasionally laced with moments of quiet euphoria. Fans of artists like Boards of Canada, Seefeel, and The Durutti Column will feel at home here, yet there’s a uniqueness to Memory Scale’s sound that resists simple comparison.

From Cosmic Echoes to Earthly Whispers, there are some proper highlights. "Causes & Effects" opens the album with a gentle ripple of tones, building a sense of anticipation. It’s like stepping into a dimly lit cinema, waiting for the first frame to flicker to life. "Sense Data (Prelude)" and its full-length counterpart, "Sense Data", form the album’s cerebral core. The interplay of melodic motifs and shimmering textures evokes the cerebral yet emotional pull of Brian Eno’s ambient masterpieces. "Afternoon’s Echoes" feels like sunlight breaking through a canopy of leaves - both grounding and transcendent. The processed bass guitar and the pipe organ here lend a subtle, almost tactile resonance.

"The Armillary Sphere We All Need" is a standout, its title as evocative as its music. The track is a swirling dance of harmony and rhythm, reminiscent of Dieter Moebius’s more melodic experiments. Closing with "Life Density", the album leaves us with a sense of completion - a perfect resolution to its cinematic arc.

What sets Memory Scale apart is his ability to balance the digital sheen of IDM with the warm imperfection of analogue elements. Tracks like "Crystal Ride" demonstrate this beautifully, with their shimmering synth lines underpinned by a steady, organic pulse. The use of silence and space throughout the album - what Castagné calls “playing with silences and pauses” - is masterful, lending the music a contemplative depth.

Memory Scale’s influences are as eclectic as they are evident: the emotional weight of Brian Eno, the textural play of Seefeel, and the rhythmic intricacy of Tortoise all find echoes here. But "Chapter Five" doesn’t rest on homage. Instead, it builds on these foundations, creating something deeply personal and unmistakably modern.

The title itself - "Chapter Five" - hints at continuity and progression. It’s as if each album in Memory Scale’s discography represents another page in an unfolding story, one that invites listeners to immerse themselves fully.

For fans of ambient electronica, IDM, and cinematic soundscapes, this is a must-listen. And for those new to Memory Scale, this fifth chapter is the perfect place to begin your journey.

Original > HERE

Monolith Cocktail

A sensory appeal of time, place, geometry and the spherical orbits of the cosmos permeate this latest sophisticated offering from the Bordeaux residing artist Memory Scale, otherwise known as the guise of one Arnaud Castagné. Measured complexities are suffused with a rich and subtle palette of IDM, Kosmische, electronic and most notably ambient inspirations; channelling at any one-time echoes of Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Boards of Canada, Eno, Seefeel, Speedy J, Ash Ra, Jarre and Peter Michael Hamel as the synthesized merges seamlessly with elements of effected guitar and the stained glass lit sounds of an organ and the lightened bulb noted Rhodes.

But even within that scope of influences, I can hear something approaching a more sedate paced track “#7” from the Aphex Twins’ Ambient Works Vol.2 on the windy synth breathing and atmospheric lead-in ‘Causes & Effects’, the kind of synth bass you’d hear on an 80s cult samurai soundtrack and the supernatural retro feels of Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein on the crisp crackled surface sounded and deep ‘A Late Reading’, and a both playful atom spirograph and roulette wheeled movement of 90s Warp roster mavericks on the obscured transmission ‘Epicycloid’. Altogether a quality of depth, feelings and softly prompted suggestions of various attuned and attentive musical instruments, of ruminating thought processes, and the historical instruments that measured celestial bodies of our universe.  

From the crystalized to the translucent the fantastical and moody, many bases are covered on a work that would suit a soundtrack of recalled and oblique memories.  

As that title denotes, this is the fifth album, and third for the unassuming Audiobulb Records label, and it’s a classy, cerebral but emotionally drawn experience that borders on the filmic, the magical, more reflective and near haunted. A truly immersive experience.

Original > HERE

Rockerilla