Can - Future Days
United Artists
August 1973.
The fifth studio album from Krautrock pioneers, Can, paddles along on a stream of bliss. Backed by the funky and free motoric rhythms of Jaki Liebezeit and Holger Czukay, Future Days rolls along on a helping hand of feel and delicate gusts. Enough to interpret, but not enough to take your mind away. The present moment is full of things that are worth your full and innate attention.
The more, and maybe most, atmospherically enhanced side of Can's output comes through in sunshine shimmers and bouts of adorned beauty. A space in time where sights align on a common goal of laying back and letting things be - the untouched remains untouchable. The shimmer of the sun sitting on top of the water like a feather softly swaying. The gentle caress of said shimmer on your eyelids - warping and bending with the ripples. The breeze through your fingers. The Summer splayed out ahead. Gently bobbing along as the breeze catches your stride. Setting sails on a guaranteed win. Come to terms with the fact that everything won't work out - and in that realization everything works out naturally. Calm in mind and body. Untouchable to a degree. Invisible but alright; the background sets the foreground. A spectator of ones own internal monologue - the contents are of use and present themselves in a tidy manner. Things feel like they're on the right track.
Future Days balances ambience and beats into a smooth and symbiotic blend. It truly hits the nail on the head for the best of both. Future Days is the sound of about as well-oiled a machine as they come. Can were quite literally reading each others minds at this stage.
50 years of Future Days. It still feels like the future. You look far enough into the past and guess what you see - the future.
