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Fragile X – See Blue Audio (previews)

'The Inner Circle'
Fragile X
See Blue Audio SBA 021

1. One Way
2. Kinning Park
3. Shields Road
4. West Street
5. Home

Release date: 25 June 2021

lnk.to/SBA021

See Blue Audio: ambient / electronic / beatless / cinematic / downtempo / eclectic / introspective… Shade rather than light...

2021 has already become a very productive year for Glaswegian electronic artist Fragile X. His Bricolage label has released a wealth of distinct and diverse music, while the Fragile X album 'Between Worlds' on the Soundtracking The Void imprint received justified praise and support. Now he returns to See Blue Audio with his third themed collection, 'The Inner Circle', and the twenty-first release on the label.

The story of 'The Inner Circle' goes back to 2016 and 'The Outer Circle' released on Bricolage. Subtitled 'A Semi-Conscious Experience', it captured the mood of a Sunday morning after a long weekend and travelling home on a busy subway train from the West End of Glasgow. Field recordings made on the journey were used as the basis for a series of tracks that reflect this special post-clubbing state of mind.

Field recordings also form the core of 'The Inner Circle', but whereas its predecessor was a little raw and rough around the edges, this long overdue follow-up is more refined and thoughtful, more mature even, in terms of both production and and ideas. This is also reflected in the setting of the field recordings: 10pm on a quiet weeknight and travelling from the south side of the city. In both cases, the destination and final stop were the same – home – but 'The Inner Circle' is more introspective in tone. Essentially, this is the story of the subway environment expressed through music.

This second collection of five tracks, predominately beatless, begins with 'One Way' and the implication is clear: this journey has an ending. As often happens, we experience a sense of exhilaration when entering a subterranean world, and the dreamlike, slow-motion synths are reminiscent of 'Departure from Nowhere' and 'Colour in Motion', the opening tracks on 'Maps of the Lost' and 'Chromatherapy' respectively, both released on See Blue Audio in 2020. This is followed by 'Kinning Park', a suburb of Glasgow, and we are now fully immersed in an underground world of metal and machines. There's a feeling of anxiety, even claustrophobia, to this track with its eerie bleeps and shadowy sounds.

As we reach 'Shields Road' and closer to home, the atmosphere is lighter, lifted by ethereal washes of electronica and trippy beats, which appear for the first time on 'The Inner Circle'. Then it's onto the post-industrial area of 'West Street' with its euphoric ambient tapestry of sound, which breaks down to an electronic pulse taken from a field recording of a train in motion, a hypnotic sound that surely resonates with us all.

Finally, 'Home' as the train pulls to a stop, and we pass through the ticket barrier and into the cool night air.  Exquisite and cinematic, it's a sublime ending to the story, but as is often the case, tinged with sadness now that the journey is over. As in life, most journeys are a bittersweet mixture of highs and lows, tension and excitement, communication and contemplation.

'The Inner Circle' is a musical dialogue between a mechanical underground world and the stories of the travellers through that world, as imagined by Fragile X, who fleetingly appear and disappear in the short stops between stations. The field recordings are far more than just background sounds, and they have been looped and integrated into the music that surrounds them. Cables buzzing, trains approaching, brakes screeching, doors closing, tannoy announcements, dripping water and the clang of metal, the buzz of commuters, the very stuff of life. In the context of 2021, it's also the sound of the slow and hopeful return to normality from the coronavirus pandemic.

Mastered by Richard Jones at Dark Fidelity Hi Fi Studios.

Photography: J.Gorecki.

The Inner Circle

'The Inner Circle' (preview) – Fragile X (See Blue Audio SBA #021)

'Maps for the Lost'
Fragile X
See Blue Audio SBA 009

1. Departure from Nowhere
2. Wayfarer
3. Maps for the Lost
4. Passing the Ley Lines
5. Full Circle (True North)

Release date: 17 July 2020

lnk.to/SBA009

See Blue Audio: ambient / electronic / beatless / cinematic / downtempo / eclectic / introspective… Shade rather than light...

For the label's ninth release, See Blue Audio heads over to Glasgow with 'Maps for the Lost' from the accomplished and prolific electronic artist Fragile X. With a sound described as "drifting somewhere in the audio void between the chaos and the calm", Fragile X moves freely between ambient and techno, taking in IDM, breaks, electro, glitch and drone, and experimental electronica along the way.

As well as being the founder, label manager and one of the principal producers on the respected Bricolage imprint, Fragile X has recently released and remixed for labels like Disintegration State, Triplicate Records and Light At The End under his Leit Motif guise. He's also known for his expansive, genre-crossing DJ mixes and podcasts. Now it's the turn of See Blue Audio with 'Maps for the Lost', a collection that reveals what is perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Fragile X: he is a sonic storyteller with the enquiring mind of an adventurer. These stories may take the form of underground electronic music, but they are essentially stories, nonetheless.

Over the five tracks of 'Maps for the Lost', the listener is taken on an audio journey where the music flows together using field recordings, spoken word samples, beatless soundscapes and sound design techniques. This goes far beyond being a sequence of tracks as this feeling of transportation is an inherent narrative throughout the music, starting with the wide-open spaces and sense of mystery radiating from 'Departure from Nowhere'.

'Wayfarer' follows with the music taking a subtle shift, almost as if it has been exposed to light and a sense of purpose created. The use of glitch effects heightens this sensation of stepping into the unknown. Next up is the title track, and 'Maps for the Lost' begins with a delicate melody before being consumed by drums and a bassline to dramatic effect. It's knowing the right moment to add these elements that really allows the music to breathe and build the narrative; lost we may be but moving forward with wonder.

On 'Passing the Ley Lines', our feet are planted back on the earth, but as with the concept of ley lines, nothing is quite what it seems. Rich textures of ambient sound shift and realign like the ground beneath our feet, and some kind of equilibrium is established. The conclusion of 'Full Circle (True North)' is exactly as the title suggests: all things must return to their source for harmony to be restored. Based around a simple piano refrain, true north is found again, and we can rest from our travels.

It's as much about the journey as the destination: this may be a well over-used concept, but with 'Maps for the Lost' it feels right. With this release, Fragile X has created a musical travelogue that is far more than just a metaphor. Be transported.

Mastered by Richard Jones at Dark Fidelity Hi Fi Studios.

Photography: R.Cleveland Aaron.

Maps for the Lost

'Maps for the Lost' (preview / continuous DJ mix) – Fragile X (See Blue Audio SBA #009)

'Chromatherapy'
Fragile X
See Blue Audio SBA 013

1. Colour in Motion 
2. Todreaminadream 
3. Tacenda 
4. Building Castles in Spain 
5. Reflective Vibrations
6. The Sky from Above

Release date: 20 November 2020

lnk.to/SBA013

See Blue Audio: ambient / electronic / beatless / cinematic / downtempo / eclectic / introspective… Shade rather than light...

Glaswegian producer Fragile X from the Bricolage imprint returns with the successor to 'Maps for the Lost', released last July, and the thirteenth release on See Blue Audio. With his debut release for the label, Fragile X created a musical travelogue in five parts, and now on 'Chromatherapy' he follows a similar path as all the tracks are again interconnected, but this time they are based around the theme of light with its healing and therapeutic properties for body, mind and soul.
	
As a sonic storyteller, Fragile X is primarily concerned with creating a musical narrative, something he accomplishes over the six tracks of 'Chromatherapy'. He has dig deep into his formidable production skills to create a sonic landscape where light and colour are expressed as sound, and patterns of light and colour become music. He uses a rich and vibrant musical palette as his toolkit creating warm washes of sound and beatless panoramas, which are certainly ambient by nature, but also stray into the dramatic tension that characterised 'Maps for the Lost' and his recent releases on Bricolage. 

The opening tracks, 'Colour in Motion’ and ‘Todreaminadream', have a flickering, ethereal quality, and give the sensation of slowly being enveloped in a new realm of light and colour. With 'Tacenda' – the concept of things being unspoken or best left unsaid – the music goes a little deeper and a little darker, submerged in phosphorescent strings and echoey synth notes.

Our immersion is complete with 'Building Castles in Spain', where a multitude of sounds find a kind of hallucinatory harmony. It feels like an epiphany, a siren call to a deeper understanding of ourselves. With our inner calm restored, 'Reflective Vibrations' provides the soundtrack to our re-emergence into nature and the real world, energised by a release of dopamine and filled with euphoria. The balance of the universe is restored.

As the closing track's title, 'The Sky from Above', suggests, everything now looks a little different and that's reflected in a sideways turn in the music. Contemplative piano chords lead into a more brooding style of ambience – the world is still the world, after all – and we are invited to pause and reflect as the light gently recedes. With 'Chromatherapy', Fragile X has taken his music to new, higher places and created alternative perspectives. Join him and step into the light.

Photography: R.Cleveland Aaron.

Chromatherapy

'Chromatherapy' (preview) – Fragile X (See Blue Audio SBA #013)