Sometimes

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Thomas Knak has many guises, from his collaborations with Bjork on Vespertine, his soundtrack work for "Reconstruction", a Danish independent film that won two prizes at the Cannes Film Festival 2003, to his work with Alva Noto on the OPTO files, and his shoegaze electronic work as Future 3 with partner Dub Tractor.
On this mini album 'Sometimes' under the guise of Opiate, he creates a beautiful body of lush warm music using only the most sparse and minimal elements possible, full of creaks and blips, rising strings, and pauses full of possibility. From these deceptively simple elements fragile tales are woven, engrossing and captivating.

'Perdot', the opening track, builds up slowly - electronic bloops and crackles mix with expanding chords, light strings and barely discernable vocal snippets, leading into 'Snow Story', a standout favorite of my own, which weaves layers of found sound atop each other - seagulls, ducks feeding, rushing water - and molds it all together with pretty violin harmonies and a simple bassline. 'Amstel' bristles with restrained power, a glow of charged electricity burns brightly, framing a fragile piano melody and static buzz, punctuated with some fluid crisp drum programming. The repeating sonar-like pings of 'For Brian Alfred' sounds like a communication channel being used to bear ones's soul, interspersed with a sombre piano and manipulated beats. 'Stp!' turns the heat up somewhat with a cut 'n' spliced piece of almost hip hop. 'opiTTT' closes this too brief album with another great signature piece comprised of typewriter-esque rhythms, processed samples, and a wonderful sense of melody.

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