Artist: Aural Imbalance
Title: Motional / Aura / Rising South
Label: Within Records
By: Chloe Harris | 18 November 2002
Tracklist:

• A1: Motional (Feat. Scamp)
• B1: Aura
• B2: Rising South (Feat. Scamp)

Aural Imbalance "Motional / Aura / Rising South"

For those of you who know the deep and spacey sounds of Deep Space Organisms, and Aural Imbalance, you’re in for another treat. Hailing from Torquay in the UK, Simon Huxtable unleashes his next beauty on us. Under the moniker Aural Imbalance, he first started creating dreamy drum and bass, before falling into what he creates now.

The A side, 'Motional' starts out with some flutters of sound moving around into some lovely wah wah synths. Pretty tones, melt into each other, as the drums start in, though this time very spacial, and breaky. There’s a metallic edge to the drums, along with the delayed toms. The claps come in, just slightly to make up some more patterns. There is a acidy 303 sound, that is smooth inside of the song. It works well, and bubbles underneath. At the break, we hear some very high sounds, similar to alien birds, and all of the synths, washing, and intermixing with each other. Quality.

On the flip, we get an emotional slice of music called 'Aura'. Sheer tones rise and fall, as the kick comes in. The drums sound techno influenced, but still very light, and sparse along with minimal arrangements, and smooth changes. The lush soundscapes are rich in texture, as the background is filled with little spacey twinkle sounds. The mellow bassline, rides along nicely, taking you on a mini journey.

Rising South starts out with an ambient introduction, and starts into a kick. Picking up momentum, as the underlining bass comes in. It rumbles just enough not to take away from the washing sounds. This is a beautiful piece of cascading music, which flows so nicely and could work in the most ambient of sets, or as a nice set builder.

Within Records have kept the deep and spacey people happy, and they won’t disappoint with this one. Simon Huxtable has really carved out a much needed niche in the progressive scene. Amazing work once again.