Last one for Artifice, and it’s an epic one.
“Penitence” clocks in around 7 and a half minutes long, just about the longest I ever remember doing. Of course, length by itself can never make the song. Similar to both “3rd Level Down” and “The Exchange“, this track is deeply saturated in trip-hop essentials. There’s a point about midway where the tempo drops from the steady 95 bpm throughout the song down to a crawl. I really thought this was a good way to isolate some of the elements and explore the emptiness of the sounds(in this case, a good thing, I think). Certainly a pensive track which fits the title as well as the overall theme of the album. I hope you can find as much meaning in the album as a whole as I’ve injected into it. That said, the compilation is now available for your downloading pleasure in the Downloads section.