Lilja, Tobias / Time Is On My Side
Album: Time Is On My Side   Collection:General
Artist:Lilja, Tobias   Added:May 2007
Label:N5MD  

Album Review
David McWade
Reviewed 2007-10-23
Soaring, ambient-celestial almost trance-like music, but not with a consistent beat, and not a trance-like beat in any case. Synths are used successfully to create a kind of etherial, dark sometimes-gothy post-industrial mood that makes me think in part of 4AD artists like Judgement of Paris, Pieter Nooten's album with Michael Brook (or Clan of Xymox, particularly the vocals), or Touch artist Biosphere. This could also be played with SWANS, early Saxon Shore, Red Sparrowes or even Earth (although it doesn't really sound like those bands, except perhaps Saxon Shore). Artist is from Sweden. On first listen, I think I like this much. Recommendations aren’t really necessary, try any or read the description. Songs are moderate to lengthy and tend to develop from one style to another.

Highlights
1 no beat, pleasant
2 piano dirge, low end pounding beat comes in
3 starts with repetitive sample “Show me”, washes of sound come in about halfway through.\
4 pounding beat, very Pieter Nooten/Brook, excellent, long, loses beat 2/3 through
5 post-industrial, last minute is beautiful ethereal vocals
6 squeaky whistle is used through a soaring, ethereal song like horns would be used on a Tom Waits piece, nice patches of sound/noise on a very intense piece
7 really beautiful almost medieval-like chanting, post-industrial
8 starts out less intense, but gains intensity to climax, wow
9 lots of different changes, including a trance-like section
10 ethereal with low-end washes
11 most difficult, noisiest

Track Listing
1. A Ruthless Beast   6. A Settlement Of Dust
2. Time, Oh Time   7. Gas Of Forgiveness
3. My Authority   8. The Pyromaniac
4. Blood Tracer   9. Beginner's Optimism
5. Dreams Of Movement   10. Gothenburg
  11. To Be Thought Of