Petar Dundov should have waited more than a year. Yeah, it's good hitting that muse while the iron's hot, and folks were still glowing about Ideas From The Pond when Sailing Off The Grid came out around twelve months later. Unfortunately, the glow of the former overshadowed the latter, denying it the sort of anticipation that comes with long awaited follow-ups. Initial reactions to Mr. Dundov’s third LP in half-a-decade weren’t “holy cow, this man’s a machine right now!”, but more “oh, he’s got another one out already? Is he still doing that trance-hybrid stuff?” Yes, he is, and even that contributed to the relative apathy towards Sailing Off The Grid.
That’s not to say Mr. Dondov suddenly lost his skill at crafting pieces of hypnotic, synthy works. Nay, he’s in as fine of form as with Ideas From The Pond. Heck, it wouldn’t surprise me if these tunes were from those sessions, or at least feeding off the same well of inspiration – it’d explain the quick turnaround between albums. And right off with Enter The Vortex, we’re in familiar ground, a lengthy, beatless composition of layering, morphing synths that, while not building to anything in particular, serves as a solid start to Sailing Off The Grid. Very much in the old school of Berlin on that one, and keeping with the vintage vibe is Yesterday Is Tomorrow, all space synth tastiness for a modern era. If you’re coming to this album looking for any hints of Petar’s techno of old, forget it, the remaining three uptempo tunes (Moving, White Spring, and the titular cut) having more in common with trance than anything else. Okay, White Spring has a rhythm reminiscent of Belgian New Beat, but there’s common lineage there, more so than techno or house in any event.
The remaining tracks (Spheres, Cradle) feed more off Berlin-School compositions than anything contemporary. Meanwhile, at eleven minutes of runtime, synth layers in Sur La Mer Avec Men Ami meander a bit much, Mr. Dundov’s seemingly content wandering about the ambient waters he creates along the way while eventually building to something of a crest. It’s all quite pleasant but not as engaging as his other works.
Minor quibbles aside, Sailing Off The Grid is definitely a strong sequel to Ideas From The Pond, so it begs the question why this one hasn’t garnered the same buzz. As mentioned, the quick turnaround likely didn’t help, but here’s an additional theory to this quandary: folks figured Ideas a one-shot challenge on Mr. Dundov’s part. He set out to make a trance-but-not-trance record at a time when critics and casuals still associate the word ‘trance’ with awful club music, proving the genre can still have merit when approached correctly. Having proved it, however, what need was there to do another? Love of the music, obviously, which is reason enough for y’all to scope out Sailing Off The Grid for yourself. For many others though, one dip into these ponds was enough.
ACE TRACKS:
Yesterday Is Tomorrow
Moving
White Spring
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