Cleveland neo-kosmische outfit Emeralds broke free of the underground in 2010 with the hallucinatory Editions Mego-released 'Does it Look Like I'm Here?', now been remastered and bumped up with seven additional tracks, including two Daphne remixes.
Before 'Does is Look Like I'm Here?', Emeralds were a cult phenomenon, notching up accolades from blogs, fanzines and the cross-Atlantic DIY circuit and quietly inspiring a legion of noisemakers to trade their distortion pedals for monosynths, modular rigs and delay units.
Alongside Oneohtrix Point Never, they prompted a wave of millennial interest in kosmische music (Deuter, Klaus Schulze, Cluster et al) that's still present today, so when they released this album it came as something of a shock.
Gone was the pillowy, lysergic dream-drone of their debut full-length 'Solar Bridge' and their dizzying run of tapes and splits, replaced by a hybrid analog-digital assembly of glittering synth sequences and memorable sci-fi thematics. The lo-fi recording processes that the band had made their calling card were now in the distant past, and shades of more contemporary dance sounds, IDM and '80s digital minimalism, recorded with a glossy sheen, was now the focus.
Emeralds stretch out layered soundscapes suggestive of work by krautrock forbearers like Popol Vuh and Manuel Gottsching and Ash Ra Tempel, as well as a minimalist mind-bender like Terry Riley. But while things get cosmic, they never get too soft, too watered down with saccharine romanticism as there is always an edge to Emeralds’ music.
Vinyl 2xLP, reissue, remastered.
Tracklist: 1. Candy Shoppe 2. The Cycle of Abuse 3. Double Helix 4. Science Center 5. Genetic 6. Goes By 7. Does It Look Like I'm Here? 8. Summerdata 9. Shade 10. It Doesn't Arrive 11. Now You See Me 12. Access Granted LP2: Escape Wheel 13. August (Extended) 14. In Love 15. Lake Effect Snow 16. Genetic (Rehearsal) 17. Does It Look Like I'm Here? (Daphni Mix 1) 18. Does It Look Like I'm Here? (Daphni Mix 2)
