Colorado’s Ryan Avery has brought forth an electronic journey under his moniker, Chance’s End, where he takes the listener through emotional soundscapes. This collage of stringed genius swells with electronic bliss and strong rhythms that range from the broken beat realm to a straightforward four on the floor.
With the solid first track “Going On” a powerful trip-hop style delivers like a Massive Attack tune, setting the mood for the remainder of the album and its musical journey. “Impossible Dreams” and “Change,” move with more operatic sirens that echo through the spaces in your mind, giving more depth and a softer, sensitive energy to the mix. They are effective, but do not have quite the emotion of Kirsty Hawkshaw. “North of Nowhere” is a welcome change into subtle progressive house with lush melodies and an airy atmosphere, which leads up to a nice build for the finale.
Set Me Free reminds me of early Oakenfold sets, although I could do without Ryan’s “Break Beat Underground.” It sounds like a revisit to Moby’s early days with edgy hip-hop beats, and takes away from the albums thematic journey. You can definitely hear the influence by some of the greats of electronica from the early days up through today, with powerful textures and modern broken beat styling, like in “Skyway” and “Traveler Alive.” They both have great flow and atmosphere…100% soundtrack ready!
The album itself has strong song structure, but is not always facilitated as some of the reentries from breakdowns, which are a little too tame and do not deliver the expected power and energy as expected. Dynamically, this may have been the desired flow for the album and if so, was done well. Another plus to Set Me Free is that Ryan actually plays the strings and does vocals himself. The production is admirable; with a Brian Transeau-like synth work and Hybrid-esque break beat mayhem. On the other hand, it does have a bit of a dated style in certain spots and reminds me of the days when I was listening to ESCM by BT.
Set Me Free is a blend of magnificent melodies, heartfelt messages, and I appreciated that the album was sequenced together for a better journey as well. Chance’s End is a great up and coming producer. I would keep an eye out for this guy. If he keeps this up we may be seeing him on the cover of Kaffeine Buzz.
