'Decades (2001-2021)' is Panoptique Electrical's fourth album on the Sound In Silence label, and the project's eighth full-length album over all. Panoptique Electrical is of course, Jason Sweeney, from Australia, who has been composing and recording either solo, in various electronic bands (Other People’s Children, Pretty Boy Crossover) and under the composer alias of Panoptique Electrical. He has also been directing and creating interactive works for the internet, making experimental films, curating projects for galleries and theatre spaces and has collaborated with and composed for some of Australia’s leading performing arts companies, artists and organizations.

As the album's title would seem to indicate, 'Decades (2001-2021)' Starting in 2001, with pieces made from lo-fi synth drones, sampled loops and broken pianos, taking us through to more recent works featuring layered atmospheric strings, processed piano, field recordings, cinematic cello performed by frequent collaborator Zoë Barry and cut-up vocal pieces performed by Caroline Daish, 'Decades (2001-2021)' perfectly blends melancholic ambient music, modern classical composition, experimental electronics and evocative soundscapes.
To be perfectly honest, I didn't much care for the last Panoptique Electrical album ('Five Pianos') I reviewed. They were primarily written for theatre and installation works with the intention of creating space and quietness. Perhaps in their intended setting I would have enjoyed them more. 'Decades' is quite different though; 31 brief sonically adventurous pieces with the majority of them under three minutes is like a smorgasbord of interesting experimental events that shows Panoptique Electrical's progression from its inception to the present. Difficult to classify, there is a fair amount of industrial atmosphere sewn through the ambience of most tracks. Much of it seems familiar in some repects to what I've heard from other ambient-industrial projects over the years, but to have this sample platter on one disc is absolutely amazing!

Some tracks have some poignant melodicism; others run on nothing but drone power, and yet others have an ample helping of dramatic tension. While the majority of the tracks are instrumentally minimal they tend to be comprised of rich sonic palettes. The primarily piano-based pieces provide a nice interlude between the experimental and industrial tracks. There is an aura of melancholy throughout may of the compositions, but you are still likely to come away from the listening experience feeling enriched. A 70 minute album is fairly unusual for Sound In Silence, and even more unusual is that the album is being offered in double-disc vinyl format, as well as CD and digital. (A bit pricey though at $50.00.) If you're only buying one Sound in Silence album this year, it ought to be this one, but being holiday season, you really should buy more.