This Binary Universe

Head-turning, game-changing long players had become par for BT’s course by 2006. If it didn’t stun, it didn’t see the sun, and his early noughties works (‘Movement In Still Life’ and ‘Emotional Technology’) had already travelled far from his origin sound. There’s nothing more relative than relativity though and three years after ‘Emotional Technology’, ‘This Binary Universe’ did for BT what ‘going electric’ did for Bob Dylan. It’s an album that inverted everything anyone thought they knew about the artist: ‘counter-club-culture’ didn’t even come close! Again, through the power of technology, this December BT revisits his most heterogenous LP with a pristine remastering and a first-ever outing on vinyl. Still way ahead of its time today, ‘This Binary Universe’ is ready to challenge young minds and win new hearts once again.

‘This Binary Universe’ seemed mission-led to capsize every album covenant going. It had no commercially-minded lead single (‘Flaming June’, ‘Godspeed’ or otherwise) … or for that matter any singles whatsoever! It consisted of a lean seven tracks, however only two ran for less than ten minutes. For the album’s creation, BT went into creative overdrive and locking down a defining ‘sound’ for ‘Binary’ is as blissfully confounding today as it was in ‘06. Several themes do breathe for longer than a single track though. BT’s soon-to-be-signature Stutter Edit effect made its first appearance, while orchestral aspects also play noteworthy roles. Having embraced the latter while writing the motion picture soundtrack for the Charlize Theron-starring Monster, he composed ‘Binary's symphonic parts during downtime working on the Stealth soundtrack. This, most notably, included the 110-piece orchestra used on ‘The Antikythera Mechanism’ – the closest point between the natural and technological spaces the album depicts. ‘This Binary Universe’ is also marked by stylish mid-track changes in tone, tempo and feel. ‘Dynamic Symmetry’ glitches magnificently from wind chime electronica to breezy jazz, before acquiring a midpoint drum & bass signature. ‘Good Morning Kaia’ meanwhile commences in ambient piano before oh-so-slowly edging in its guitar and rock threads.

Artistic distinction was decisive in the early part of the new millennium and for his part BT was keen to dust the technological trail behind him. For the album’s insanely detailed 74 minutes he customized synths and children’s toys, while building and using his own plug-ins from scratch (most famously Stutter Edit and Break Tweaker) to achieve the required intricacies. He got mathematical with his harmonies on the golden ratio’d ‘1.618’; worked in the programming language Csound for ‘All That Makes Us Human Continues’ and made considerable use of circuit bending (the mis-wiring synths to obtain unique sound sequences) on a number of others.
And had all that ingenuity not been quite enough, BT foresaw ‘This Binary Universe’ as his first multimedia project, engineering the music for playback on the DTS’s 5.1 surround sound system. This he realised through seven vignettes that comprised ‘This Binary Universe’s film, which saw a limited theatrical release in 2006. Four were developed by CG artist Scott Pagano, while Mondi, Dose Productions and Transeau himself also created one apiece. They spanned cinematographic range, from live action and computer generated, through to traditional animation. For ‘Good Morning Kaia’, BT’s used footage of his (then-just-born) daughter with the track’s ‘lyrics’ appearing only as subtitles, drifting in time to his piano notes.
Exploring the relationship between the carbon-based and digital worlds, with meditations on everything from parenting to programming, the remastered version of BT’s ‘This Binary Universe’ arrives Dec 6. Music will never be quite the same again (… again.)