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We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

CONTINUUM

by The Observatory

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Includes Bonus Digital PDF booklet.

      $12 SGD  or more

     

  • Limited Edition CD
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    CD
    Deluxe paper packaging
    Includes album liner notes
    Illustration by Massimiliano Amati
    Limited to 200 copies only

    Preorder ends 10 July.

    Includes unlimited streaming of CONTINUUM via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • Limited Edition Double Vinyl 2LP + CD + DL
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Double LP
    Includes CD and Digital Download
    Standard weight black vinyl x 2
    Deluxe paper jacket
    Black polylined inners
    Full size insert with album liner notes
    Illustrations by Massimiliano Amati
    First press limited to 250

    Preorder ends 10 July.

    Includes unlimited streaming of CONTINUUM via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • CONTINUUM Female Grey T-shirt
    T-Shirt/Apparel

    With fine detailed serpent illustration by Massimiliano Amati, printed DTG onto a soft and comfortable grey Gildan Premium Cotton T-shirt. Please indicate to us the sizes if it is not listed in the inventory and we will accommodate to your needs. Designs and T-shirt colours are fixed.

    Sizes run smaller than usual. We recommend you select one size up from your regular.

    Sold Out

  • CONTINUUM Male White T-shirt
    T-Shirt/Apparel

    With fine detailed mask illustration by Massimiliano Amati, printed DTG onto a soft and comfortable white Gildan Premium Cotton T-shirt. Please indicate to us the sizes if it is not listed in the inventory and we will accommodate to your needs. Designs and T-shirt colours are fixed.


    Sizes run smaller than usual. We recommend you select one size up from your regular.

    Sold Out

1.
PART 1 11:29
2.
PART 2 10:50
3.
PART 3 09:19
4.
PART 4 08:35
5.
6.

about

These recordings feature Balinese gamelan-inspired bronze instruments we built based on a 6-tone scale of our own devising. A pair of jegogan and pemade, one cengceng, and a reyong set with acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, synths, drums and vocals.

The initial sketches of Continuum began in Bali, on reyong. Interlocking kotekans were composed and assigned to different instruments like the jegogan, pemade and drums. Despite the brief time spent with composer Dewa Alit (Gamelan Salukat), his compositional ideas and thoughts left a deep impression on all of us. He reminds us that culture is not a museum, it is ever changing.

Superimposing this frame of mind onto the multi-cultural identity of Singapore, we took the inevitable step to combine influences both old and new into a more inclusive sonic sphere that accepts differences as they are. The six note scale we devised may seem limited, but we found ourselves liberated and able to explore intricate rhythms with the economy of simple melodic ideas. As much as we respect and embrace the spirit of gamelan and its traditions, we always hope to incorporate new developments into our compositions, as seamlessly as possible. We borrowed heavily from music we were listening to, drawing inspiration from Balinese and African rhythms, early electronic music from Norway, the symmetry and shape of mirror images in kotekans, and the trance element in repetitive structures. The music remains dark, picking up from where we left off on our fifth album, Catacombs.

The album ends with Part 6 by Lasse Marhaug, an apt closing piece by a friend and collaborator who encouraged us to get this out in the first place. Mankind came out on a split 12" single with MoE, a noise-rock band from Norway. The same track has been tweaked a little for this release.

credits

released July 15, 2015

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The Observatory Singapore, Singapore

The Observatory’s music is texturally complex and viscerally emotional, crossing wasted borders and musical extremities that parallel polarities within human existence, provoking and inspiring in a deeply enigmatic way. The group draws inspiration from their Southeast Asian roots and heroes of new music and art. ... more

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