For the earliest releases in the Klimek catalog, the sound was consistent and warm in tone. Shimmering guitars and hints of washes and percussion were the order of the day, with a constant focus on getting lost in a relaxing state and soaking the sound in. But after a while the sound became too predictable and stagnant. To rectify this problem, Klimek released the vinyl-only Listen, the Snow Is Falling, with a drastically altered direction that sounded as promising as anything the pop/ambient portion of Kompakt had to offer in quite some time. But with Music to Fall Asleep, the sound, and unfortunately the song, all too often remains the same. The cavernous delay present, which was once the highlight of a fresh sound, makes a re-appearance, and like a pestering mother-in-law who outstays her welcome, stays in place and gets way too comfortable too often. Overlooking this notion is an exercise in listening patience, but even then Klimek on its worst day is better than most ambient artists on their best. Music to Fall Asleep is 11 songs of Klimek expanding on patterns and blueprints that were hinted at on Milk and Honey, but it's most certainly more haunting and reliant on more instrumentation this time around. It's also a lot more dissonant and haunting than Milk and Honey but nothing Klimek fanatics certainly won't revel in. Not the best Kompakt ambient release, but certainly not the worst, either.
© Rob Theakston /TiVo