| Institute of Science and Technology - Music From the Films of R/Swift |
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With the opening note on "Ashes," the first track from Institute of Science and Technology's Music From the Films of R/Swift (electronica brainchild of Richard Swift), the faint sunlight ducks behind a cloud and the sky becomes subtly ominous. As the album progresses, it blackens. The twelve track instrumental compilation takes the listener through a gamut of emotions no closer to tranquility than anxiety. But that is, after all, why we're listening to it in the first place. "INST," the second track, is the only song on the album with vocals. A soothing, hypnotic voice instructs the listener, "The best way to relax is to lie down upon your bed and stretch out." The song then crashes into an electronic whirlwind where rest and relaxation feel about as natural as a banjo and harmonica harmony were it to emerge during the song's bridge. The song keeps its intensity high for the duration, with the narrator easing your mind by stimulating and activating the left and right brain, pitting it against itself in a battle of good and evil, of peace and destruction. The mood evoked with each subsequent song is ever-so-drastically changing that it eventually becomes one great big ball of clarity. During "Shooting a Rhino Between the Shoulders," you are a renegade behind the wheel running red lights using a speeding ambulance as your personal escort. And then hits "Plan A & Plan B" and the world gracefully glides into slow motion. After the completion of "They Provide Lights," the closing track, you'll feel fatigued, weak in the knees, in need of a break. Rest your body, rest your mind, relax, lie down upon your bed, and stretch out. - Josh Raff
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