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The latest output of the consistently dazzling downtempo strain unleashed by Thomas Morr, 'Sometimes' is exceptional even by that label's own sky-high standards. A major contributor to Bjork's life-affirming 'Vespertine' LP and remixer of artists as diverse as Piano Magic and Bomb The Bass, Thomas Knak aka Opiate, is the manufacturer of soul-spinning minor electronics basked in a dusky late-night ambience. Effectively a mini-album, 'Sometimes' drops tiny elements of guitar, piano and dub alongside intricate beat manipulations.
It drifts that fine line between ambiguity and melody, with oceans of aches and pains lapping against the senses in all the right places. Standout 'Amstel', for example, is the sound of insects hovering overhead while you daydream in sunkissed summer fields. 'Opittt' akin to tender thoughts beamed back to earth from somewhere distinctly otherworldly. Not a single utterance of a human voice can be heard on this record. Yet the tiny flutter of Opiate's heavy heart will wash around your head long after these thirty minutes have elapsed.

Ian Fletcher
CWAS #12 - Summer 2003

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