Fanu – Departure

December 2, 2013 • Lightless

Fanu has a very special place in my heart; his debut double-album Daylightless was the thing that helped electronic music finally click with me in the first place. This is his fourth "real" album, and I'm happy to say that even after listening to every one of those four albums, Departure is still as awesome and fun as Daylightless was when I first heard it.

Okay, so maybe at first it's not too different from a lot of modern drum and bass. "Drumsö Fuzz" is as standard as you can get: Amen-beat-based breaks, ambient atmosphere, dull throbbing basslines... it's nothing we haven't heard before. But the way Fanu puts his tracks together really resonates well with me. Maybe it's the slight melancholy edge from the vocal samples or occasional strings or soft keys, or the light ambient droning, but there's always something there to keep the beats very energetic and lively and interesting.

But it doesn't end there, either, for Departure isn't just drum and bass. There are a lot of new influences peeking out here and there which give the album a very unique style, and I love how it's done. You'll hear bits of instrumental hip hop, maybe a little ragga jungle or downtempo. And even with all that different stuff going on, Departure still manages to keep a lot of consistency. Okay, so "Hop And Bass" does sound pretty out-of-place with is east coast hip hop beat, as does "Ranch Dance" with its weird southern flair, but they're both cool tracks anyway, so I'll let it slide.

I'd still say Daylightless might be the superior album, but Departure definitely has a lot going for it that absolutely makes it worth listening to for anyone with even a mild inclination to drum and bass. I'm still having difficulty really getting into a lot of electronic music, but Fanu has helped immensely and this is an album I could really get into and put quite a few listens of under my belt.