Jonas Munk, after crafting numerous albums under the moniker of Manual and his two-piece band Limp, has scattered his sound through IDM's circuit boards, shoegaze's sweet surrealism, and indie-pop's lush melodicism to consistent success. However, underneath all of Manual's ornate musical accessories, there has always been an undercurrent of swelling ambient textures breathing just beneath the surface. Now, with The North Shore, Manual effectively strips away the electronic beats, feedback rushes, and remnants of melody in favor of moving the gossamer atmospherics from the backdrop and into the fore.
The North Shore, while capturing Manual in the midst of maturation, is an album that rests between the waves and the sandy shores and the water's ebb and flow. Its strength lies in its harmony with nature and its ability to evoke sun-streaked skies and rich oceanic blues. Manual may have disassembled his trademark sound of dreamy electronic elegance, but in doing so, he's gained an ability to sonically illustrate vivid imagery by revealing a world to explore, a landscape to absorb, and a scenic ocean shore to travel through.
Each of the album's seven tracks maps similar ambient coordinates with its rise and fall mirroring the swelling tides and gentle waves, but The North Shore's real magic lies in the album's ability to grow, expand, develop, and slowly seep into your subconscious over its 46 minutes. Its subtle nuances only reveal themselves after repeated listens and long exposures to the songs, rewarding patient listeners with its intrinsic tranquility and grand scope.
1. Always Alone
2. 1986
3. Dawn Changes Everything
4. Eleda
5. Burn
6. Ica
7. It's Night on Planet Earth...And We Are Alive
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