Ember by Kubbi - chiptune album of the year?

On February 5th, 2015,the Norwegian Gameboy- and computer musician Kubbi released his latest album called Ember. It's not often that I wait excitedly for a new release from a chiptune artist as much as this! Will Kubbi meet my expectations? Will he raise the bar once again, which he set so high with Circuithead, his release from 2012? Join me on my journey through the fascinating universe of sounds created by a very exceptional artist.

One thing's for sure: You'll never forget your first love! Remember the butterflies in your stomach, the exhilaration which allows you to suddenly walk through life in a total different way than before. At the moment your senses are most sensitive, you recognize and feel many more things than in the times before you entered into this special world of happiness that love creates. When I heard the album Circuithead for the first time back in December 2012, made by an artist called Kubbi (of whom I've never heard before)the butterflies definitely started to fly again!

A journey through time

At that time I had wanted to download an album from Bandcamp by some chiptune musician which I can't remember anymore. At the download page my eyes spotted some recommendations for other albums. Circuithead was one of these. It doesn´t have a spectacular cover artwork, but something inside me urged me to download this album as well. Thanks to the "pay what you want" option I was able to feed my music player with a new album a few moments later. Today I would say this must have been some sort of divine intervention.

A few hours later my wallet was missing a few Euros. The money was well spent on Circuithead, because I was totally blown away by this album. Starting with the first track Vegard Kummen, which is Kubbi's real name, it immediately caught my attention with soulful melodies and the intense atmosphere created with fascinating arrangements full of beeps, bleeps and amazing electronic sounds.

Perhaps it's now understandable, why I awaited the 5th February of 2015 with so much excitement. This was the official release date of Kubbi's new album Ember, which is his first full length album since Circuithead. In the meantime new songs from him only appeared on various chiptune samplers, such as the popular Chiptune = WIN series.

Cooking blood

Now let's have a closer look on Ember. Consisting of a total of nine tracks Ember is available as digital download with the option to pay what you want for it. In addition it's also available as a physical release on CD, featuring a good looking cover artwork. For $ 10.00 you can call it yours.

People who follow Kubbi's work will find a track already known on Ember, which is called "Restoration". A couple of weeks before the official album release Kubbi had published this one as a teaser track on his Soundcloud page. A clever idea, as the song is so beautiful, it's actually hard to stop listening to it. Restoration builds up to a great atmosphere right from the beginning with calm ambient sounds. Later the song structure gets more and more complex. Squeaky chiptune sounds come in, building more lovely melodies and successfully try to intensify the aforementioned butterflies and the embers  start to ignite inside you. Restoration features all the markings of what makes a real Kubbi tune. It's like some sort of wellbeing for your body, your soul; even for your heart. I realized after some seconds of listening, that Kubbi could write history with this album!

Restoration is proof of how much Vegard Kummen's skill for arrangement and melody has evolved during the last two years. The new tracks sound even better than his old output, the song structure is richer and more complex than ever before and there's always a little surprise for you the longer a tune continues to play. Sometimes strings are added in a perfect way to the backbone of the 8-bit sounds and electronic sequences, then drums change from mid tempo to drum 'n' bass style or some e-guitar riffs transport the melodies into much higher spheres. It's s quite  breathtaking!

Soft rock

The guitar is a really important component on this album and the main characterizing instrument besides the Gameboy. Saying that, while there's no guitar, a steel drum is used in "Pathfinder", which is the opening track of the new album and this expands the musical experience for the listener in a great way, the second track on "Ember" really excels in playing around with a plectrum effectively. This leads to the fine guitar sounds avoiding hitting your nerves, but instead achieves a perfect vibe and develops into some wonderful and perfect melodies. It's clear that you shouldn't expect real hard rock music on Ember. Kubbi is a cuddly musician. His language is called melody. A skillful arrangement of atmospheric melodies at that! The origin of chiptune sounds is always present, but guitars and drums just enrich the listening experience.

Kubbi reaches his wildest and hardest stage with track number 3 which is called "Firelight". Here he rocks faster and harder than before and later on with the other tracks on the album. That is refreshing, but also familiar, because his Gameboy still is the lead singer and everybody can't stop looking at its lips.

Kubbi also knows how to go with stuff which is hot at the moment. With the song "Cascade" he follows the trendy dubstep style a bit, but also goes along with nice melodies utilizing 8bit sounds effectively. This formulates a really fresh listening experience, because you can't get the beautiful melody out of your head, while your feet automatically start to stamp to the rhythm of the wubwubwub passages.

Other tracks like "Compass" and the outstanding "Overworld" renounce any mentioned experiments. Kubbi is doing here exactly for what he's known best: tinkering sounds together which are filled with harmony, enthusiasm and love, where the magical structure of sounds won't let you leave the private listening room he's created for you.

Another great song on Ember, which is called "The Cairn" is already known from the sampler MAGFest = Win. The final track on Kubbi's latest release is called "Formed by Glaciers" and is the quietest tune of the bunch. Known melodies are reused here using different instruments and sounds to give new insights into Kubbi's world of audio. Driven by the sounds of Erin McQuisten's graceful voice and a piano, a massive inferno slowly starts to burn and build while playing this song. It's a perfect symphony, short but violent, to end Ember. You can't help but love what this outstanding artist is doing.

Conclusion

It wasn't easy to raise the bar again which Kubbi had set with his previous album Circuithead, but Ember achieves it. I can gladly speak up here – this is a modern chiptune album that may be regarded as a milestone due to the wonderful melodies included and the atmosphere it's achieves as it builds up. If you really want to do Kubbi a reproach you could say that he's often composing music using the same formula. Most tracks start slowly and a bit quiet and as they develop more and more instruments are added until the full song explodes in its full glory towards the end. But is this really worth griping about? Of course not, because this formula works. Always! That's the true spirit and power of Kubbi and this is the way to catch everyone's heart. Mine is yours, Kubbi. Forever!

Track list:
1. Pathfinder
2. Ember
3.Firelight
4.Cascade
5.Compass
6.Overworld
7.The Cairn
8.Restoration
9. Formed by Glaciers

Ember @ Bandcamp
KubbiOffical Website

Personal Favourites: Ember, Overworld, Restoration

Thanks to ne7 for proof-reading and correcting the translation.

Image source: Kubbi