Reviews:
Electronic Music World
“Ochre. I’ve been impressed with Ochre before, for instance with his album AudioMicroDevice, which I still listen to every once in a while. Lemodie is no different. Again, Ochre impresses me big time.
My earlier prediction that Ochre might end up on Warp Records has not yet come to pass. Nearly though, because thanks to this release on the Benbecula label, Lemodie is sold on Bleep. This is actually also where I got the release. Result: I cannot comment on the physical release, as I only have digital files.
The music speaks for itself though, no need to go into the packaging. It’s the typical solid Ochre style. Very consistent throughout the album, still the orchestral feeling is there. The minute details that Ochre puts into his music are amazing, and even multiple listens in one listening session will not give away all details to you.
Little more can be done about this album than a bit fat recommendation! What a beauty. Once again, Ochre has done it. Beautiful!”
Gridface
“Ochre is Chris Leary, whose previous album, A Midsummer Nice Dream, appeared on Toytronic in 2004. Lemodie is in much the same style, with lush, melodic electronics. This album will leave you wanting more. “111? sets the perfect tone, with delicate strings taking over half-way through. My favorite track is “Infotain Me.” Harp glissandos move between speakers over a powerful bassline. Gradually the theme builds and expands (though the last couple of minutes are largely redundant). “Open Top” features disembodied TV samples over Boards of Canada-like analogue synths and vocoder. “Vegas” has hints of funky guitar. It’s a downtempo piece that reminds me of Boulderdash. Leary uses many of the same sounds as other downtempo artists, but his melodies are fresh and the production is all top-notch. I’d love to hear him explore more unusual instrumentation.”
KindaMuzik
“How fairy-tales are transformed into expressive listening electronics.
Earlier this year, the Dutch producer Kettel told KindaMuzik that he was disappointed by the number of truly beautiful melodies he encountered in electronic music. It’s another thing if that observation is correct, but Ochre’s second studio album should definitely be able to satisfy the young producer from Groningen.
Ochre, the synonym of the Briton Chris Leary, knew to make an indelible impression in 2004 on the IDM audience with A Midsummer Nice Dream, which was released on the highly acclaimed Toytronic label. Now, two years later, its successor Lemodie saw birth. Ochre hasn’t gone through a spectacular metamorphosis in the mean time. Even more than earlier, he interweaves structures and melodies from classical music with a broad spectrum of synthesizer sounds, complex drum structures on downbeat speed, and an impressive studio technology. Lemodie has become more complex due to this bent for classical music, but also more intriguing than his predecessor.
Something that hasn’t changed is Ochre’s love for clear, enchanting sounds. Lemodie seduces like a blower of bubbles full of images to represent idyllic scenes. Often the scenario is cheerful, light and safe, in which fairy-tale landscapes march pass the mind’s eye. But sometimes, suddenly, the sky becomes overcast, and grey clouds block the sun in an ominous way. An open place in the forest, just now the ground for dancing elves, darkens all of a sudden because of the trees, which bend down in a threatening way. Clear blue water that ripples peacefully, all at once colours pitch-black, while mysterious shapes appear just below the surface. And what is that dark shadow that falls on the lonely and colourful hut in the cornfield? Musically created magnificence of images such as this doesn’t make Lemodie just a listen-friendly electronics album full of beautiful and intriguing melodies. Lemodie is a fantasy full of illusions that has common ground with the world as people experience it, but doesn’t seem to originate from it.
Not everyone will enjoy this supplementation to the intellectual life, which can be perceived as kitschy and sweet. Nevertheless, for enthusiasts the album is more beautiful and more expressive than a walk through a fairytale forest under the influence of hallucinogen.”
KZSU Zookeeper Online
“Downtempo electronica/glitch-hop from British solo artist. Ochre is back with his signature dreamy ambience, full of shimmering electronics and warm melodies. This new album, however, is less ethereal and “crystalline” than Ochre’s debut album (A Midsummer Nice Dream). Harp strums, swelling strings, and murky ambience all give this album a more organic, fairy-tale feel. I imagine this as an apt soundtrack for a deep forest grove full of magical creatures. Play with Secret Frequency Crew, Boards of Canada, Tim Koch, Bola.
Lovely, accessible, yet still intricate stuff. Highly recommended!”
Lost At Sea
“Perhaps it’s the jock in me, but one word I initially felt compelled to associate Ochre with is ‘geeky’ – and that was before I discovered that Chris Leary, the man behind the Ochre alias, held a Master Degree in Aeronautical Engineering to his name. But pre-emptive judgements aside, while Ochre’s sophomore release immediately presents itself as an unmistakably software-driven piece of music, it surpasses many of its IDM contemporaries in the light of its accessibility.
Although the title Lemodie immediately summons an expectation of melody, to call it a ‘melodic’ album would fail to do it justice. The catchy hooks incorporated in the likes of “Sosacharo” and “Infotain Me” are merely iceberg-tips to the expansive beat-programming and aural architecture that Leary appears to have refined. And though inviting, these icebergs don’t dissolve easily – opening track “III” clocks in at over seven-and-a-half minutes and represents an enduring example of Leary’s ability to begin a track with one idea and finish it with an entirely different one.
Ochre’s inclination to fuse electronica with classically-rooted instrumentation becomes evident during “Beneath Fleeting Visions.” The track marries a series of string-rich swells with Leary’s trademark cut-up beats, before traces of bass and synth seep into the mix. The theme is continued with “Lifewish,” which on first inspection could have arisen from a Max Richter notebook.
“Sosacharo” stands out as Lemodie’s distinct grower. Its eerie synth riff and squealing blip configuration flirt with the senses repeatedly with each listen, before embedding themselves well and truly – and even then it sounds better when listened to in its full context. “Anomie,” with its comprehensible nod towards Autechre territory, affirms Ochre’s compatibility with the lion’s share of the Warp roster; Boards of Canada may provide the most suitable reference point as far as the general tone is concerned, but Lemodie demonstrates a more mechanical format – less organic, somewhat harsher (but not to the point of Aphex Twin or Chris Clark’s works), and more edgy.
One last point on which to commend Leary is his ability to take each track to its limit. Rather than looping sections ad nauseum in the hope of creating decaying atmospheric tones, as many less accomplished artists resign themselves to doing, he sees the potential to twist his compositions, albeit with subtlety. Lemodie, therefore, boasts diversity as well as expert programming, and mixes elements that should appeal to all fans of electronic arts, regardless of their preferential sway.”
Milkman
Chris Leary first got noticed with his debut EP, Sound System Bangers Vol. 1, in 2003, yet he had spent the previous few years freely distributing his music on the Internet and on CDrs. This led him to work on a series of remixes for artists such as Rusuden or Melodium, while his own tracks regularly got picked up to be featured on various compilations. His debut album, A Midsummer Nice Dream, published two years ago on London-based Toytronic, collected tracks created over a long period of time, but this sophomore effort is the fruit of a much more focused gestative process.
With Lemodie, Leary creates a voluptuous soundtrack which goes well beyond the boundaries set with A Midsummer Nice Dream. While the scope remains very much set into electronic territories, classical orchestrations resonate all throughout as melodic themes are adorned with delicate silky string motifs, at times taking the form of a string quartet, at others given full orchestral treatment.
Elsewhere, Leary brings complex rhythmic formations to life with rich analogue tones and soft washes, piecing together sumptuous cinematic soundscapes from disparate elements to create a series of truly evocative compositions. While he still cultivates the melancholic aspect of his music, conveyed through sweeping melodies and elegant electronic arrangements, Lemodie is more upfront than its predecessor. The rhythmic fabric has gained in complexity and relief, arrangements appear more structured and in focus, reflecting on the overall narrative of the record and its consistency. Leary deploys here an impressive array of sounds and moods and applies grain and textures with great expertise.
Answering the soft hues and shapes of the cover, the compositions go from crisp digital landscapes (111, Infotain Me, Anomie) to atmospheric lustre (Open Top) and vast evocative moments (Sosacharo, Lifewish). If influences are perceptible, Leary puts them to good use and takes great care in blending them into the background so as not to overshadow his own inputs. With this second offering, Leary shows here increased confidence and focus and quietly makes his place amongst the artists to watch.
The Silent Ballet
“Chris Leary has always been a man who knows his way around a laptop; his brand of IDM is indebted to a staggering talent for programming. On past form this has been particularly apparent due to the flowing and decadent nature of his work – A Midsummer Nice Dream, for instance, exuded a sophisticated panache that was fused with its subtle melodies. Lemodie, however, instils an antithesis borrowed from his contemporaries – namely Plaid and Autechre – that galvanises the record to such an extent that it feels less like an Ochre record and more like a Warp release. Like a wheel in perfect balance, turning, the record’s cyclical rhetoric of memorable melodies is, indeed, wondrous. The result is categorically exquisite; an abstract hymn to intelligent composition.”
Textura
“[Lemodie] impresses considerably more than Leary’s 2004 Toytronic release A Midsummer Nice Dream. Ochre’s melodic and orchestral sound has always been polished but that collection erred on the side of excessive politeness; the new disc hits harder and is all the better for it. Yes, there are predictably sweet moments—the string section interval at the center of “111,” for instance, and the sparkling harp strums in “Infotain Me”—but they’re offset by the insistent clank of robust machine beats. Similarly, symphonic swirls and chiming keyboards illuminate the upper strata of “Beneath Fleeting Visions” but an intricate rhythmic slam brings a darker undercurrent to the proceedings. Dreamy cuts like “Lifewish” also prove that Ochre can hold interest when beats are omitted altogether. Leary’s hour-long attempt to locate a satisfying interzone betwixt the light and dark makes for compelling listening.”
The Wire
“Ochre’s debut album – released by Toytronic a couple of years ago – was a generous dose of beatific tunefulness which occasionally felt a little glib. This leisurely follow-up is just as lush and expansive, but the good news is that close inspection reveals a welcome structural complexity. Sure, Lemodie works fine as winsome mood music, but there’s more going on here than initially meets the ear. Ochre – aka Chris Leary – is a British producer whose music is rooted in an early love for The Orb and Selected Ambient Works-era Aphex Twin, but Lemodie suggests more wide-ranging inspirations and higher aspirations. While the opening “111? is wafting along on a bed of hazy, woozy chords it’s pretty but unremarkable, but Leary gives himself plenty of room for manoeuver, and the entry of a convincingly scored string quartet halfway through elevates the track to an unexpected new plane. “Beneath Fleeting Visions” has a filmic scope which unites ornamental clarinets, delicately plucked harps and intricate percussion programming in faintly brooding sweep of sound, while “Bluebottles” punctuates its lurching, jazzy swing with tangy 303 squelches and Radiophonic burbles. In a word, assured.”
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