What Happened is an extension of pioneering kraut rock a la Cluster and Neu! and the early electronic experimentation of Marcus Belgrave, Tod Dockstader, and Edgard Varèse. Regardless of the treaded path Emeralds follows, their latest force is an excursion into the unknown. Either as a glimpse of a soothing end of existence where time fades away or as an aural physics lesson, in which molecules buzz by, ripple on the horizon, collide and ring out, expand and diminish into the soft hiss of the surroundings. Either way, What Happened is much more enlightening than merely rehashing the past or the implicit confusion that the title harks upon.
Like previous Emeralds releases, a bed of glacial drones harnesses the foundation—creeping gradually but with vigor; however, on What Happened the atmospheric serenity of the group’s previous undertakings are magnified by swirling synthesizers and plentiful electronics. The supplementary instrumentation does busy-up Emeralds' resonance, yet they pull it off with majestic ease, without sounding cluttered or out-of-control. There is no need to single out any of What Happened’s five tracks because the whole album dissolves together with such elegance and delicacy. What Happened is Emeralds' magnum opus: they have finally become the shimmering hexagonal crystals embedded in their name.
Bardos Freedoom
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