Reviews:

Press Release (Soleilmoon September, 1999)

"Navigating By Colour" is Robin Storey's most ambitious project to date, and it will probably be remembered as his most expensive and collectable as well.There are exactly 984 copies available for purchase, so there's little reason to wonder why we say this! The CD, in a full colour card stock sleeve, is packaged with a set of twelve oversized postcards, each one of which is a reproduction of an original painting by Robin Storey. For the truly devoted, the actual paintings are being offered for sale at our web site for $150.00 each.

Naturally there are twelve songs, to match the twelve paintings. "Navigating By Colour" is an evolutionary step forward, with none of the Asian and Indian references that characterized the earlier albums, but still sounding recognizably like a Rapoon record. Much of the first half of the album is faintly evocative of drum 'n' bass beieve it or not, while the remaining pieces are built from loops of ambient noise and cool atmospheres. Listeners familiar with Robin's first band, :zoviet*france:, will be pleased to hear echoes from the distant past in this album. Buy this one now or pay triple the price later.

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Navigating By Colour is both forward and backward for Robin Storey. Forward in the sense that he leaves behind the ethnic rhythmic impressions which have ghosted his work as Rapoon for a more cerebral drum 'n' bass influence to his drifting sonic ventures. Backward in that he has also returned to some of the elements which made zoviet*france so intriguing.

Returning to his first artistic ambition--painting--Storey has built this album around twelve representative pictures which served as the visual impression for the audio tracks. Soleilmoon--continuing their grand tradition of excellent packaging--has enclosed over-large postcards of these pictures with the (limited) release of this disc. Instrumental music--soundscapes--have always had a visual element that they inspire and the accompanying postcards add a wonderful layer to the drifting voices and tones and beats which make up this album. Navigating By Colour is a fascinating glimpse into the creative process (and the end result) of an artist who thinks both sonically and visually. I now know what "Cerulean" sounds like; the audible differences between the "Blue Hemisphere" and the "Red Hemisphere" are clear to me; there is texture and tonality to "Sienna." Art is inseparably woven into music with Rapoon and this is your guidebook.

review by Mark Teppo
earPollution, Vol. 2, August 2000

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The following appears on BuyBuddy consumer information agent.

Includes 12 postcards.
Rapoon: Robin Storey.
Contains 12 tracks.

Like fine wine, Robin Storey's Rapoon projects keep improving with age. His level of quality control is extraordinarily high when one considers his fairly prolific output (nearly three albums in 1999 alone). Navigating By Colour is a special, limited-edition release packaged in a long-form plastic sleeve with a series of hand-painted expressionistic postcards painted by Storey himself. Mirrored in these surrealist still lifes is the music-perhaps Rapoon's most enigmatic yet.

Somewhat eschewing the twilight-zone ritualist tabla loops that have made up many a Rapoon recording, Storey instead goes for sound-painting in vibrant brushstrokes, using the notion of ambience itself to suggest rhythm. His atmospheric mantras take on a possessive power. The "beats," if they can be called that, are still present, but this grittier work bypasses Rapoon's past fascination with the musics of fourth, fifth, or sixth worlds.

review from the Muze database

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Sound-painting with ear-friendly sonic hues, Robin Storey is Navigating By Colour. Gorgeously diffused atmospheres ebb, flow and pulse, occasionally with percussion or rhythmic loops. Not as dark or Easterly-influenced as some of his previous works, this limited Rapoon release (984 copies) comes with a set of twelve oversized color postcards (of which the orignal paintings have already been sold to lucky fans and collectors).

Backed by a speedy, fairly contemporary beat, a bright Blue Hemisphere drones with a steady stream of warmly swirling clouds. The short Prussian lives in a wafting, beatless haze which is laced with almost-identifiable string section strums. From sporadic, muffled beats Cerulean emanates as a rhythmic industrial-strength roar whose hovering waves of density are powered by an inner pulse.

Similarly, Eden's Plains exists within a thrumming energy field which slowly shifts around a central core, and is blown by slight winds. A brief shimmer, Forgiven (0:59) echoes then disappears. Hushed spoken samples open Imagine; the track then slides into a zone of sweet/sad musical abstraction with vocal strands slipping between looping sound ephemera.

Traveling through the Red Hemisphere is like a trainride through the twilight zone, accompanied by pulsating tones and a clattering pattern. The piece becomes more amorphous, billowing at its close. Slow piano-like notes resonate and hang in the mist of The Last Gladding Tide through which twists a dark, spiraling drone. A lovely radiance oozes and spurts from Sienna, which seems to mechanically throb deep inside. Occasional ruffled bleats slip past in the glow.

From This Point... (11:25), we enter an extended electronic fogbank. Faint sound and cycles reveal themselves, including a machine-like, rhythmic entity which becomes downright drummy, flailing away at the shadows. For ten minutes, Alizarin rumbles and groans with more power than its predecessors. From this whorling mass we hear a host of transmuted sounds, like a blurry vocal loop, electric guitar feedback, plenty of sizzle, and other sources too altered to name. Winter Shields glimmers in an aura of its own making; releasing warmth, brightness and intermittent blips of itself, the track seems a suitable point to bid a fond farewell.

For more insights into the wide and wonderful world of Rapoon, this link is great place to start.

A bit brighter than much of Rapoon's estimable output, the generally shapeless sounds of Navigating By Colour are hypnotically inviting. Like the accompanying artwork (also rendered by Storey), these murky-yet-colorful pieces swirl and blend in layers of abstract beauty, sometimes revealing patterns, sometimes remaining elusive. A hearty 9.1 for another source of aural wonderment for the discriminating listener of ambient art. Highly recommended for Rapoon fans and folks who want to be, the disc is available from Soleilmoon Recordings.

review by David J. Opdyke
this review originally appeared on AmbiEntrance November 27, 1999

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Limited edition CD (1000) with 12 oversized color postcards (5 1/2 x 7 ). A special edition well worth owning for the music and Robin Storey's art prints. Actually the originals are for sale too (see the Soleilmoon website). Musically Robin Storey scores again with great cavernous atmospheres and those :zoviet*france:-style waves of reverb that his fans love. New for him are the Eno-style loops (ie Discreet Music) used in "Sienna," "From This Point..." and "Winter Shields." And like The Fires Of The Borderlands release, the choir effects are a highlight, especially the opening cut "Blue Hemisphere," which surprises with some rudimentary jungle beats. Yes, on a couple of tracks Storey gets into new rhythms, even trying a Basic Channel dub-ish mode during "Red Hemisphere." Definitely one of the best ambient releases of the year.

this review originally appeared in Music Network News November 1999