n the world of experimental electronic music, there are two axiomatic challenges that separate the great from the good, the good from the mediocre, and the mediocre from the poor. As one gathers from reading any number of reviews, these are 1) sounding original, i.e. distancing oneself from one’s influences, and 2) creating emotionally powerful music. Many other factors are important to the music, of course: production, structure, attention to detail, etc., but these are all secondary.


Unfortunately, Fonica masters all those secondary factors, but fails with both of the fundamental tasks for the majority of Ripple’s duration. Fonica’s music can only be described as intellectual: Ripple contains 55 minutes of carefully crafted ambient pieces full of texture (not just squibbles and wurbles, there are also acoustic guitar loops) that are clearly intended to be listened to several times (probably on headphones, too). If done right, such a formula can be quite rewarding; the components lend all the songs a certain “organic” quality that appeals to me a great deal.


However, there are few times where Ripple has much to offer in the way of melody, and so it makes for a rather dull listen. All of the tracks have a nice sense of direction and purpose, but rarely is there any delivery (the promise is only fulfilled on a few highlights, namely “Twang”, “Rusl”, and “Zephyr”). Even as background music, the pieces are often irritating and unsatisfying. Worst of all, some of the tracks remain unrecognizable after seven or eight listens.


Ripple’s other fault is its lack of originality. The album seems especially tedious because nothing on it sounds fresh, including the highlights. Listening to any of the songs, one feels a certain appreciation for its accomplished ideas, or even, on one of the aforementioned highlights, for its melody, but the song remains impossible to treasure. Nothing separates it from the rest of Tomlab or some similar label’s catalogue.


Ripple is inessential because it provides plenty of detail, but little substance worth paying attention to. It remains a reasonably good album as a result of Fonica’s great care and skillful production, but lacks the emotional resonance and originality to make it anything more. If Fonica delivers these key ingredients for its next release, then it’ll be a magnificent thing, but it’s best to skip this one.