Migration – Bonobo

Migration is the sixth studio album by British record producer and DJ Bonobo. 

It was released on the 13th January 2017 under the ‘Ninja Tune’ label. On November 28, 2017 Migration was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards; the single “Bambro Koyo Ganda” (Feat. Innov Gnawa) was nominated for Best Dance Recording.

The genre of the album would be considered all of the three in which being Electronic, down-tempo and experimental. The album lasts for 63 minutes roughly, and it’s definitely worth your time if you’re trying to get some work done and or chugged out.

Migration is a fairly impressive improvement over their other album, The North Borders, and easily the most listenable record of Bonobo’s fifteen-plus year career. It’s a record with equal appeal for electronic music fans and general listeners, something you could put on anywhere. Essentially, it rejuvenates down-tempo as a genre with more potential than party music which is pretty naff anyway.

I’m pretty sure that it might not be the best music that our world is looking for, but it helps eliminate background noise which is a major distraction for me at least as my ears have to be doing something whilst I work otherwise I go off task. 

The opening track, “Migration,” is a lovely, wholesome piece. The song slowly builds up on an ghost like mid-range keyboard and piano. Eventually, some distant drum sequences begin to form up and make up a solid foreground, the arrangement lets the drummer play before soaring into a vast and epic finish.

“Break Apart” uses a wide range of percussive tracks that blend and groove together as one. The marching snare finds itself in the distance behind many hand claps, finger cymbals, and a consistent bell rhythm. The vocalist Michael Milosh provides an ambient, melancholy melody, thus the listener begins to see why the theme of the album is so deeply rooted in travel, distance, movement, and shape shifting. 

To me the overall theme is very moving, when I do go an travel or take long walks it makes me think about how open and free we can all be if we take a step back from technology and the rest of the rubbish that has kept us in shackles for an awful long time.

The album is worth to put on in the background if you’re looking to unwind after a long hard day which is how I was introduced to it. If you want me being brutally honest, you wouldn’t catch me listening to this album making daily commutes as I don’t think it fits my mood.