Conor Fynes 'Сердцевина' - Senmuth (5/10)

After a brief repose from Senmuth's music, I again travel into this Russian one man experimental project's discography, restarting my journey with a fairly unremarkable, but surprisingly catchy piece of electronic music. As an artist that all-too-often overlooks the importance of memorable melodies in his work, 'Сердцевина's better material is instantly likeable, although the majority of the album still passes by as being nothing more than mediocre.

While Senmuth has crafted countless albums of similar sounds before making 'Сердцевина', the album does distinguish itself (if only a bit) for it's focus on structure, whereas most of Senmuth's work in this style draws more upon ambient sounds. Still, while some tracks build up very nicely, one can certainly expect the similar sound, and things still come across as being a tad listless. 'Сердцевина' is graced with a few more inspired moments however, such as a surprisingly beautiful acoustic guitar solo in 'Координаты Сингулярности'.

The majority of the music here is electronic-based, although the sounds are arranged in such a way to give the same ethnic, exotic vibe that composer Valery Av has based this project around. Fans of calming, slightly melodic music should appreciate this, although the album lacks the substance to be worth an extended experience.