Review of 'A Young Person's Guide To Kyle Bobby Dunn'

Abstract to the nth, Kyle Bobby Dunn's 'A Young Person's Guide to Kyle Bobby Dunn' is a moving album full of moving pieces. Current ambient/minimalist composers basically choose one of two tacts: they either prettify (and therefore make their work more accessible) ala Eluvium or they create abstract monument like structures out of sound ala Stars of the Lid. Kyle Bobby Dunn does something entirely different here. This double album built out of heavily effected recordings actually manages to (beautifully) make the idea of sound and (since it's a recording) time itself relative. Stylistic touchstones are nearly moot, but within the hovering circles of treated instruments and the audio residue of the electronics that treat them, I heard an appreciation for the process of Stars of the Lid and as well as for the aesthetics, the feel of the emotional timbre of Jonas Reinhardt. Where as this type of stuff often has the feel of time having been elongated or stretched Kyle Bobby Dunn manages to discover the spaces between the sounds, the languid shimmer that sustains the connections between the molecules of vibrations. It's highly recommended, and you can buy it here