Review for Forgiveness – Next Time Could Be Your Last Time – Album – 2022
Artist: Forgiveness
Title: Next Time Could Be Your Last Time
Land of Origin: UK
Release Date: 10.06.2022
Label: Gondwana Records
Genre: Ambient, Electronic
Available from qobuz in
24-bit / 48 kHz – Hi-Res, Stereo
Available from Apple Music in
24-bit / 48 kHz – Hi-Res, Stereo
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Intro
On June 10, 2022, Gondwana Records released ‚Next Time Could Be Your Last Time‘ – the debut album from Forgiveness, aka Jack Wyllie, JQ and Richard Pike. You might, like the band, describe the album’s sound as “not really jazz, not really new age, but if you say it the other way around “a little jazz, a little ambient, a little electronica”, then it also makes sense.
The sound worlds of Forgiveness are unique in any case, sometimes it sounds like Far Eastern temple sounds, so the door to world music is also a crack wide open, otherwise the whole thing leads to peace, balance, carries us away in fantastic dream worlds full of fantasy and astonishing emotional beauty.
About FORGIVENESS
The formation of the band began with the exchange of music, with the growing friendships between the protagonists and with the fascination with their own filigree elaborated sound worlds, so it was the fascination of the three band members for their own collective power. Group dynamics, that is the magic force behind them, individual motivation that leads to a common creative process, that is inspiring each other.
Jack Wyllie is best known and established through his work with Portico Quartet, Paradise Cinema and Szun Waves, as well as collaborations with artists such as Luke Abbott, Adrian Corker and Charles Hayward. JQ has released on Boxed and Lo Recordings, and his music has also been remixed by Loraine James, Sun Araw and Foodman.
Richard Pike has released several records on Warp as a member of PVT, as well as collaborating with Modeselektor and Ital Tek. Under his alter ego Deep Learning he launched various releases and last but not least he founded the tape label Salmon Universe while composing film scores for TV series.
About the album NEXT TIME COULD BE YOUR LAST TIME
By combining acoustic, electric and digital instruments and devices and adding sound tools from all decades, Foregiveness’s synthetic Shangri La becomes a place where craftsmanship meets musicality, with Forgiveness you even encounter passages notated on classical sheet music.
During the recordings, however, there was always a relaxed and joyful mood, which thus also explains this carefree playfulness of the three artists. Forgiveness are creating soundscapes where shiny electronics meet flute and saxophone motifs and form them into something new …
The diverse influences on this longplayer include as well the famous ECM label and Miles Davis from the 70s, Spencer Clark/Star Searchers, Ansel Adams, Steve Reich, H Takahashi, Don Slepian, as well as The Blue Nile, Talk Talk’s “Spirit Of Eden,” Michael Gordon’s “Rushes for 8 Bassoons,” Sir Simon Rattle’s documentary “Leaving Home,” Horoshi Yoshimura, Ulla Strauss and Disasterpeace, plus new developments in vaporwave and software experimental.
The Bottom line
The album NEXT TIME COULD BE YOU LAST TIME by Forgiveness on one hand is absolutely hard stuff for all those music fans who are not so much into ambient and experimental approaches and flowing sound worlds. But those who are looking for peace, or relaxation, or just want to dive deep into music for 44 minutes, they will find exactly what they are looking for right here.
The record hits, as shown above, the center of many musical interests and tendencies and combines the individual ingredients to a truly independent individual sonic cosmos. Forgiveness build synthetically dreamy, mind-expanding soundscapes that are thoroughly transparent and multi-layered, but also contain multidimensional layers of exciting texture fields and background noise.
The album comes along in 24 bit / 48 kHz hi-res format and sounds simply great with extremely good stage, immense detail richness and excellent spatiality across the entire sound spectrum.
Forgiveness are:
– Jack Wyllie: Flute, Soprano Saxophone, Juno 60, Loops
– Richard Pike: Vermona drum machine, Fender P-Bass, Roland Chorus Echo, NI Massive, Roland SH-101, Juno 6, mixing, mastering.
– JQ: Logic, NI Massive, various softsynths.
Forgiveness – Next Time Could Be Your Last Time – Album – 2022
Summary
max. 5 Points
Mein Testequipment:
Studio 1 (High End):
- 2 x System Audio SA Mantra 50 (front)
- 1x System Audio SA Mantra 10 AV (center)
- 2x System Audio SA Legend 5 (Rear)
- 1 x System Audio Saxo 10 (Subwoofer)
- 4 x Onkyo SKH-410 (B) (Dolby Atmos)
- Auralic Altair (Audio Streaming Client mit max. 32 Bit / 384 kHz)
- NVIDIA Shield Pro mit Plex, Kodi (max 192 kHz für Audio, Tidal (MQA Streaming Client)
- AppleTV 4K (Streaming Client) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Amazon Cube 4K (Streaming Client) Dolby Atmos (restricted), HDR, Dolby Vision
- Panasonic DP-UB9004 (4K UHD Player) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Oppo UDP-203 (4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Player) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Yamaha CX-A5100 (Preamp) 4K, Dolby Atmos, Hi-res
- Yamaha MX -A5000 (Power Amp)
- Sony KD-55A1 (TV) 4K OLED, HDR, Dolby Vision
Studio 2 (Near Field):
- Speaker: 2 x KEF LS-50 Wireless II Aktiv, Hi-res
- DAC: Cambridge DAC Magic Plus
- Kopfhörerverstärker/Vorverstärker: Auralic Taurus
- Kopfhörer InEar: Shure SE846 mit ALO MMCX Audio Reference 8 Kabel
- Kopfhörer OverEar: Audeze EL-8
- Kopfhörer OverEar: BeyerDynamic DT 880 S (Studio)
- J River Media Center 27 mit 24 Bit / 192 kHz
- Audirvana Media Center mit 32 Bit / 192 kHz
Studio 3 (Consumer):
- 2 x System Audio SA 1100 (front)
- 2 x System Audio SA Mantra 10 (rear)
- 1 x System Audio SA Mantra 10 AV (center)
- 1 x Mordaunt-Short Avant 309i (Subwoofer)
- NVIDIA Shield mit Plex, Kodi (max 192 kHz für Audio, Tidal (MQA Streaming Client)
- Apple TV 4K
- 1 x Panasonic DP-UB900 (4K UHD Player) Dolby Atmos, HDR
- 1 x Sony UBP-X700 (4K UHD Player) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Denon AVR-X3600H (Receiver) 4K, Dolby Atmos, Hi-res
- Sony KD55-XG8505 (TV) HDR, Dolby Vision