WHITE MOTH BLACK BUTTERFLY: Atone (ATMOSPHERIC ROCK,Pop): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Since his departure from Tesseract in 2011, Daniel Tompkins has not been idle: Skyharbor, Haji's Kitchen and Absent Heart in 2012 followed by White Moth Black Butterfly in 2013 and Piano in 2015. It is the intimate and electro project of the Englishman that interests us here. Like his predecessor, "Atone" is a collective and international work written by several composers and authors including Keshav Dhar (Skyharbor), the American Randy Slaugh and the Englishman Jordan Turner who form the vocal duo with Daniel Tompkins.

At first glance, the parallel between Tesseract's progressive djent metal and White Moth Black Butterfly's cottony pop doesn't jump out at you. However, from his experience with Tesseract, Daniel Tompkins has kept this taste for atmospheric music, of which White Moth Black Butterfly is the purest manifestation, and this in a double sense, immersive and picturesque.it is a question of purity throughout the eleven tracks divided into three movements which constitute "Atone". In the crystalline lyricism of Jordan Turner's vocals ('Penitence', 'Evelyn', 'Deep Earth') that accompany Daniel, the delicate emotions are conveyed by the melancholic and soothing harmonies as in the dreamy or ethereal atmospheres that nimbate the dream-pop of White Moth Black Butterfly. The instrumentations participate to set up an atmosphere of pure serenity favoring the roundness of the sounds but also the rhythmical and moderate tempo and the classical arrangements of the strings.

The title of the album has something relevant in that it refers to the coherence and harmony of the whole work, whose brevity (less than thirty-eight minutes) reinforces this observation. But one should not take the term atone in the sense of monotone because "Atone" is not built according to a unique tonality but according to a bundle of fluctuations and ambiences, which go from the epic ('Tempest', 'Evelyn') to the oriental ('The Stage'), what assures its variety while preserving its thematic line and its global balance. There is a certain mastery to go from art-pop ('Rising Sun', 'The Serpent') to ambient ('Penitence'), from experimental ('Deep Earth', the cinematographic end of 'Penitence') to new-age ('Symmetry'), using both electro effects ('An Ocean Away') and orchestrations of violins and piano ('Evelyn', 'Atone'), while maintaining the same degree of unity that reigns in the record.

White Moth Black Butterfly is a tight-knit collective that manages to shape a refined and immersive pop music that is totally accessible, some of which could very easily fit into the criteria of mainstream popularity. This double dimension makes "Atone" immediately accessible and exciting in the long run. It is an impressionistic musical journey that evokes luminous and fantastic landscapes and inspires nostalgic feelings that are both comforting and imaginary. Having listenied to it is to extract oneself for a few too short moments from the hustle and bustle of the world. - Official website

WHITE MOTH BLACK BUTTERFLY

ATONE

KSCOPE

ATMOSPHERIC ROCK