Science Fiction – Walls Don't Exist

Andreas Hale — Tue, 20 May 2003 07:00:00 +0000

Bleeding from the very veins as DJ Shadow and RJD2 comes the Nigerian born, middle eastern bred, and Morehouse alum Science Fiction with his stellar debut Walls Don’t Exist. Utilizing the same techniques that created the monsters known as Deadringer and Endtroducing… Sci Fi injects his own persona into the stew. If Rjd2 is adrenaline and Shadow is unpredictable, Sci Fi is finesse.

The inherent beauty of Walls Don’t Exist is that, with a deeper look into the construction, order, and flow of the vocal samples, you will find that Sci’s planet, guitar liks, drum patterns and elongated titles directly, or indirectly orbits around love and hate (take heed emcee’s). The albums first six love sick odes (“…Ever After” & “This Is Where I Landed, When I Fell For You”) revolve around the longing and excitement that new relationship’s eternally promise; exemplified by “I Sat Up By The Phone At Nights…. And Waited For My Dreams To Call” (surely a contender for the longest titled track of the year) which paints an elegant landscape of melancholy love and intrigue. Sci’s well placed vocal samples, drums and impressive integration of guitar and piano keys turn this into a significant moment.

But just as relationships change, Walls Don’t Exist then throws the listener a curveball as the foundation of love begins to slowly crumble with the chilling “Beneath The Ice & Still Breathing” where frantic drum patterns set the lover up for heartbreak with the aching
“Christine”—where the numb vocals painfully encapsulate the roller coaster ride of emotions and revenge associated with deteriorating unions– “I trusted you/and you lied/It’s over/I’m leaving you behind/beg and plead/get down on your knees tonight/I’ll laugh and I’ll smile remembering how you didn’t do me right.” The second half of the album continues to spiral and shatter the joys of love, denial and doubt settle in with “Last Draft Of A Love Letter” and “Love Is A Cigarette in Gasoline Hands” slaps you around with another elusive drum pattern tugging on each emotional heart felt chord.

Finally, the last stage of Walls Don’t Exist finds Sci coming to grips with the truth (“Losing You Is What Drowning Feels Like”), putting the pieces back together (“All Is Not Lost”) and moving on, with “All Is Not Lost” and “The Sunshine”, where remarkable strings commingle with guitar licks on “The Sunshine”. At this point you are damn near spent emotionally, but Sci sends you to another plateau with a bonus track engulfed in the flames of tribal chants and sade-esque backdrops.

Whether it was deliberate, or by chance, Science Fiction’s debut, Walls Don’t Exist, blesses fans of the instrumental genre with what could be considered its first “true” conceptual album (or at the very least its most developed one). And by scaling down the rewards, and risk of love into a 78-minute soundtrack, Sci Fi has not only carved out a truly breathtaking debut, but with similar offerings in the future, he may even become a staple in the book of musical life.

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Science Fiction – Walls Don't Exist