Tom 'Konx-om-Pax' Scholefield's 'Caramel' is quite a different record from the dark, mould-pocked ambience of his debutegional Surrealism'. Although it's primarily a beatless album, it's one with a big smile on its face. 'Caramel' has a lightness and energy, an unrepentant joyful cheesiness even - like the rave piano and spiralling arpeggios of 'Cosmic Trigger' or the big beatless build up of the title track. A lot of the tracks are very simple, that's quite an important theme. There's also a strong element of rave memory in this ambience. Other tracks are more or less drones that build into melodies, like 'Beatrice's Visit', as he says "I'm always trying to find the most ecstatic and basic loop and just let it run and do its thing." Other tracks approach the pastoral melodies of prime nineties IDM such as 'At The Lake' and 'Rainbow Bounce' which almost seem like a homage to Planet Mu's Mike Paradinas at his most beatific.
