[Poker Flat Recordings]

Travel seems to always conjure mixed feelings. We travel with friends and loved ones on holiday but we also travel for work/commute. The ease and relative affordability of flight means we’re sometimes quite a ways from home, while anything less than a thirty minute commute is a luxury most don’t have. As a much loved producer, Donnacha Costello, then, finds himself in an odd relationship with travel, often on the road due to a mixture of work and pleasure. On, Before We Say Goodbye, his fourth album and first since 2003’s Isol on Raster-Noton, Donnacha mulls over his time spent at the gate and on the train, expressing these thoughts through a small collection of analog gear (only four instruments in total).

“Leaving Berlin” is stunning from the get go and conjures all of the emotions associated with travel, not just because of its loudspeaker recordings from Berlin’s Schönefeld airport. The sadness of leaving, the excitement of going somewhere new, the longing for home, the meeting of new and old friends: all of this is here between the strings and jabbing bass of “Leaving Berlin.” With billowing, dubby chords and wistful strings slowly plodding along, “A Warm Embrace” lives up to its name. “It’s What We Do” has a catchy hook (and make no mistake, this is an album full of hooks), continuing the melancholy mood albeit in a more upbeat form. Yet the tune takes a misstep with a vocal sample that discusses making music during hard times, which seems redundant given its pensive surroundings.

“No-One is Watching” and “Roll It Out” are some of the most dance floor friendly of the tunes here, with the former’s sneaky bass line and SH-101 yelps setting a nice laid-back groove while the latter roughs things up a bit. “Stretching Time” is full of acidic bass gurgles and descending squelches, plunging deeper and darker for a proper techno trip that ends with more travel hub announcements, this time from Japan. Gluing the album together are a handful of ambient passages, such as the classic Warp-era reflecting melodies of “With Me Still” and the swirling arpeggiated harmonies of “The Tug.”

Before We Say Goodbye closes with “Last Train Home,” a simple piece of music but an album highlight. It’s a joyous trip back to the comforts of home through a simple melody and slowly unfolding pads, complete with percussive pitter-patter akin to the clacking of a train and another PA announcement, finally in Costello’s native English. Indeed, Before We Say Goodbye is a reflection of the emotions of a much loved producer who spends lots of time in transport but whose happiest train ride is the one back home. In a recent interview with yours truly, Costello clarified his intentions towards the album as a short listen perfectly timed for a commute or short flight, coincidentally situations where I have listened to Before We Say Goodbye the most. By keeping both the run time and gear list terse he manages to get all of his thoughts out without repeating himself. Before We Say Goodbye is the kind of album that you only really want to listen to from beginning to end, and while “Stretching Time” may be begging to be played at 2 a.m., listeners would likely be losing something without the proper context.