Cornelius - Sensuous (Album)
Unbeknownst to many western audiences Japan has been quietly developing some prodigiously adventurous and experimental musical talents. Doing for pop what Merzbow has done for ear-bleeding noise, Cornelius has fostered a rabid following among critics and live audiences in love with his genre-defying albums and mind-altering live performances. At least so goes the press release…
On first listen Sensuous failed to make good on the hype surrounding the albums release and Cornelius’ recent Australian tour. Now before I have my thumbs removed by my editor and have to hire someone to filter my mail for anthrax I should probably clarify that I do think the album is actually pretty good. Quite good even. Distilling a panoply of electronica, pop, glitch and future-jazz influences Sensuous is just that – an alluring and tactile (seductive even) listening experience that makes good on some of the promises of ‘Fantasma’. Fans will love it and the uninitiated will likely be blown away – particularly if they’ve witnessed first hand the Cornelius live experience.
Here’s the rub though – there’s nothing really new to speak of.
For all it’s knob twiddling, jilted technicality Sensuous could be mix-tape of outtakes from Future 2 Future, combined with some Matthew Herbert cast-offs with Squarepusher behind the decks. Rather than Phil Spectre for a post-rave generation (as described by the London Telegraph) Cornelius instead veers close to the sorts of musical excess and technical wankery perpetrated by Yes and their prog-rocking contemporaries. Even if that’s your thing (and there’s nothing wrong with that) Sensuous doesn’t really introduce any sounds or ideas that haven’t already been well and truly mined out by a slew of truly experimental artists at the forefront of jazz and electronic music reaching back at least thirty years. Unfortunately, without the pretence of innovation Sensuous just doesn’t stack up at all well. The songwriting tends towards unwarranted verbosity and faddish electronic treatments that already sound dated (though the ‘Cher’ auto-tuned jazz vocals against an orchestral arrangement are kind of cool).
As I said the album is pretty good and I don’t think any of these criticisms should discourage fans from picking up a copy. I do wonder what we’re forgetting about or missing out on in the music industries current fetish for the ‘next big thing’.
