BT – These Hopeful Machines
Pin ItAn out-and-out style of electronic, touching the borders of trance and full of sophisticated mastery by the legendary Brian Transeu made us feature this album on Trance Hub. This is strictly not for trance listeners, as the conventional hype around an electronic album goes. This album is for the masses that are willing to step into the world of electronica. And no one does it better than BT, we believe.
Overview
BT has just released his magnum opus named ‘These Hopeful Machines‘ which is the follow up to 2006′s hit ‘This Binary Universe‘.
If you have been a BT fan for a long time, you will surely be surprised by the new album and if you aren’t, you will definitely become a follower.
The album has 12 individual tracks across 2 Discs that are termed as Side A and Side B and span a listening time of around two hours. The sounds in ‘THM‘ will be something new to the fans. If you are expecting an album entirely similarly to ‘TBU‘ or similar to his older albums you will be quite disappointed. ‘THM‘ is an amalgamation of BT’s previous works from start to finish. It not only contains electronic music but it also contains a mixture of other genres. To label his music into a specific genre would be a crime since, each track sounds much revolutionary than the genre it is supposed to be.
The entire album is painstakingly done with each track blending beautifully into the next, giving a truly melodic and uplifting feel. No wonder it took him four years to complete! The lyrics are very well written and the way BT has composed / produced the tracks brings out the emotions in the lyrics.
The tracks in the album flow like life, giving you heights of pleasure, joy and slowing down in some areas showing us the grey and darkened sad areas. The album is not full of tracks, but of experiences. It is a total listening pleasure and really immersive and is one hell of a ride from start to finish. It is vibrant, unique, revolutionary, emotional and thought provoking. You just can’t describe this album. The more times you listen to it, the more times you find different sounds. In the end, you would be listening to this album over and over, wondering which sound was that or how did he do that?
The digital download of the album has each Disc as a single track. Probably BT wanted the listener to put on some headphones and listen to the album the way it is supposed to be – from start to finish uninterrupted like in the days of the walkman.
This album is not meant to be heard on small speakers. To take full advantage of this, you HAVE to listen to it on a really good sound system or an awesome pair of headphones.
"Suddenly"
This is considered to be a dance – rock hybrid. Lyrics are pretty catchy.
"The Emergency"
This can be considered the perfect love song.
"Every Other Way"
BT had released the first half of this on his tumblr page. It’s a glitchy-breakbeat ballad with vocals by Jes and BT. The outro is pretty sweet and gives a feel of a crescendo of emotions that blends very well into the opening of ‘The Light In Things‘.
"The Light In Things"
Lovely piano work in the beginning of the track. It’s a dance club track that reminds you of his ‘ESCM‘ days.
"Rose Of Jericho"
It is the only instrumental track in the first Disc and gives you a progressive trance like feel that is heavily experimented on.
"Forget Me"
A great mix of rock and electronica. It has a band type of feel to it and has employed lots of guitars and drumming.
"A Million Stars"
It is the opening to the second disc and is pretty epic with Kirsty Hawkshaw doing the vocals.
"Love Can Kill You"
It mixes BT’s vocals with a "Simply Being Loved" feeling where a lot of production tricks are employed on the verses of the track.
"Always"
Rob Dickinson on the vocals. He thoroughly soars singing this track which has well written lyrics.
"Le Nocturne De Lumiere"
It means "The Night Of Light". It is the instrumental track from the second disc and is like a vast tapestry that shows off the maturity of BT’s production techniques.
"The Unbreakable"
Rob Dickinson again on vocals with a rock and orchestral feel to it.
"The Ghost In You"
This is a cover to Psychedelic Furs song "The Ghost In You". It is an acoustic rendition of the original pop-py version.
Conclusion
In a summary of all the above this album is dead on bang for the buck and is a true masterpiece. It is a must-listen for music lovers, even if you aren’t into electronica, this may make you addictive to it. If you love detailing, structures, emotions, rhythm, beats and production wizardry then you will not miss this album.
Do go out and purchase the original Discs instead of the download, since the album art is just amazing and is originally like 8 feet long.
For more info related to BT check out the following links:
www.btmusic.com
www.myspace.com/btnetwork
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000839102487
www.twitter.com/BT
Reviewed by: Lionel Faleiro
