I’ve heard artists say they make art for themselves before; it’s a fairly common phrase, and it can apply to any kind of art. Mostly it seems to best apply to those working within the fine arts, but I’ve certainly heard it extended to musicians. This is where it gets confusing. Generally, making art for oneself is interpreted as a positive, but I beg to differ. Benn Lee Jordan a.k.a. The Flashbulb, a.k.a. Acidwolf, a.k.a. CHR15TPUNCH3R, a.k.a. DJ ASCII, a.k.a. Dr. Lefty, a.k.a. Dysrythmia, a.k.a. FlexE, a.k.a. Human Action Network, a.k.a. Lucid32, a.k.a. MC Flashbulb, a.k.a. rapemachine, a.k.a. rnd16, a.k.a. 66x, a.k.a. Q-Bit is excellent evidence in my argument. With fifteen LPs and a handful of EPs all within the last ten years, it’s pretty clear that Jordan—the man with so many personas, one of them is probably in OutKast—is his own biggest fan. He’s also bipolar. Go figure. We could discuss ad nauseam the various styles used in his recordings, award winning advertisements and television engagements. Suffice it to say, the bipolar man of many hats is predictably a man of impetuous style.
I have it on wiki-authority that Benn Jordan is more in tune with his releases under his given name; which is to say, more benign electronica as compared with the twitchier spastic leanings of previous Flashbulb vehicles. The Benn Jordan LPs, namely Pale Blue Dot and Louisiana Mourning, feel a little more vulnerable still than Arboreal which probably explains the use of the Flashbulb moniker.
Let me preface my judgments of this album by admitting to general bias against ambient instrumentals. It’s certainly not a universal rule, but it’s better that you all know the truth.
The elusive undercurrent of electronic mayhem that characterizes Benn’s present work provides most of the cause for my dissatisfaction. There are moments of true brilliance here, but they’re too few and far between, leaving an utter lack of gratification. “Skeletons,” the album’s penultimate track, is the best evidence of this imbalance. The fact that there are vocals certainly doesn’t hurt in my book, but vocals aside, it’s the definitive peak, followed closely by the closer, “Tomorrow Untrodden.” Every time through this album, the last two tracks make me want to give the whole album another listen. “Maybe I just wasn’t focusing last time,” I’d find myself thinking. The truth is, there’s some pretty solid music between “Dragging Afloat” and “A Raw Understanding,” sounding sometimes like Moby and sometimes similar to Daft Punk or Ratatat. If Daft Punk is the machine end of the electronica spectrum, and Ratatat is the human end, The Flashbulb falls much closer to the Daft Punk end. The unfortunate thing is that the most exciting moments on this album are the flares of Jordan’s acidic guitar, about four and a half minutes into “Skeletons.”
If he isn’t making music for himself, then I don’t know what sort of eclectic demographic Jordan’s aiming for. Objectively speaking, Arboreal is high quality electronica, but it swallows itself for a bit in the middle. Aside from some truly gorgeous break beats and Hendrix-like guitar work (even if it is only because Jordan’s a lefty playing an upside down righty guitar) there’s not a whole lot to take away from this album. Forgettable as it may be, I can’t shake the feeling that that’s sort of the point. It’s hard to fault an artist for releasing an album that achieves its goal.
Track List:
1. Undiscovered Colors
2. Dragging Afloat
3. The Trees In Russia
4. We, The Dispelled
5. Meadow Crush
6. A Raw Understanding
7. Dread, Etched In Snow
8. A Million Dotted Lines
9. Once Weekly
10. Springtime In Distance
11. Dreaming Renewal
12. The Great Pumpkin Tapes
13. Lines Between Us
14. Burning The Black And White
15. Telescopic Memorial
16. Skeletons
17. Tomorrow Untrodden
