Save Your Light for Darker Days

Digitonal

Just Music

2008-09-04

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• (Member — 0 votes)

Producer and instrumentalist Andy Dobson has been writing and performing music as Digitonal since the late 1990s, but his music did not start to fulfil its full potential until a chance meeting with Egyptian session violinist Samy Bishai. Combining electronica with a classical sound proves a combination that will set your spirit soaring on waves of cinematic atmosphere.

You may not hear it on first listen, but attentive revisits will reveal the impressive array of skill Digitonal possess.

Opening with the hauntingly beautiful “Ana Kata”, it’s easy to see why Dobson found Bishai’s violin skills to be a vital element to the deep Digitonal sound. He brings out the feeling in the music, texturising tracks with both a sombre and uplifting mood depending on your frame of mind. Such open-ended interpretation of the music is evidence of an essence missing from the majority of elecrtronica on offer today. The second track, “Silver Poetry” sees the introduction of bass beats to give added power to the string instrument, but Dobson proceeds to use them sparringly in favour of more ambiant fare which might faze lesser producers. His confidence in his compositions brings out a tender guitar on “Gone 4:22” and you’d be hard pushed not to go into a dreamlike state listening to “93 Years On”.

Throughout Save Your Light for Darker Days, the electronic beats glitch away in the background, unobtrusively keeping a measured pace as soft bleeps and bass allow the violinist to talk. This isn’t a cheesey chill out album where the layering is half-hearted, heard-before samples, with Digitonal you can hear with every beat the dedication that has gone into the carefully constructed compositions for maximum effect. You may not hear it on first listen, but attentive revisits will reveal the impressive array of skill Digitonal possess and use to awesome effect. It’s a spellbinding album that will sooth and educate the mind.