I am woefully, woefully late with this review. My excuse is that I wanted to avoid a repeat of my embarrassing under-rating of Mitochondrial Sun’s self-titled first album. In truth, though, it’s mostly because I’ve found it difficult to straighten out how I feel about Machine Dialectics. This is a sparse and purely electronic album; the modern classical piano and cello stylings of the self-titled don’t make a re-appearance. It’s also far from the black metal of Sju Pulsarer. There’s not even much percussion here, leaving almost entirely melodic synths of varying tones and textures. At first blush, I liked it, but felt like there was something missing.
Elements of earlier Mitochondrial Sun are certainly here. Songs like “To Those that Dared to Dream” and “The Fate of Animals” are moody, melancholy, or ominous. But it’s far sparser. Songs are very often a lead synth, a little rhythm or ambiance, and not much else. As an exploration of what you can achieve with nothing but a synthesizer and a knack for writing melodies, Machine Dialectics is quite impressive. Avoiding anything that might be described as even slightly dancy puts this in an unusual corner of electronic music. Working to constraints can produce interesting results, and that’s true here. At its best, the minimalism enhances the impact of the big melody lines when they happen, and Sundin really is an excellent songwriter.
Machine Dialectics by Mitochondrial Sun
As a title, Machine Dialectics suggests the experience of attempting to understand something a computer is doing and getting, well, largely inscrutable results. I am professionally deeply familiar with this feeling, and the record does as it portends. It wanders, and sometimes interesting things happen, but very often I’m still left scratching my head. I keep thinking – as this review grows later and later – that I’m on the cusp of getting it, but it hasn’t happened. I’m not getting the emotional impact I did from Mitochondrial Sun. There are long passages that only barely climb above ambient. The song construction is so sparse that the success of the entire album hinges on those moments when the melodic leads hit. They’re good, but they’re not quite good enough to carry the whole thing.
Despite that, I do enjoy listening to Machine Dialectics. On “The Fate of Animals,” melody and ambiance lines twist around each other, and the piece progresses from contemplative through ominous to a prettier, almost woodwind-like final movement. Closing track “The Child Sleeps in the Machine” is a bit longer than the others at 8 minutes, which gives it a bit more space to develop. “Trilobite Dreams” is the most immediate track, more urgent than the rest of the album, with a catchy, guitar-like melodic lead. But even here, the couple of different themes are all there really is to the track. I struggled to write much at all of note on some of the most ambient interludes (“Kepler-138 E,” Vast Expanses”).
I’ve regularly—and appropriately—reached for Machine Dialectics as a soundtrack when I’m working and need to think. As work music, it’s wormed its way into my head, and I find myself anticipating my favorite moments even when I don’t quite think I’m paying attention. But that lack of attention is a problem, and that makes it challenging to recommend. It’s slow and contemplative to a fault and there are few big payoffs. It ends with its questions left unanswered and me left largely unmoved.
Rating: Mixed
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Inertial Music
Websites: mitochondrialsun.bandcamp.com | mitochondrialsun.net | facebook.com/mitochondrialsun
Releases Worldwide: February 21st, 2025
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