A lovely album this, so nice in fact that I must admit that I haven’t got round to listening to the LP it is supposed to remix: Lylac. The LP has the impression that it floats in a vat of its own making: Ultravioleta is a marvelous example of this; a light breezy fancy that floats like gauze in a golden atmosphere.
At times there is a feel that we are listening to the soundtrack of one of those “smart”, über-techno cop dramas that the US produces (you know; wondering, timorous piano passages that are quietly promising but never lead anywhere substantial) but don’t let that put you off, the sensations are fleeting at best. And there’s enough sand in the Vaseline to keep the most musically perverse happy. The female vocals often play a wicked game of making you think you’re listening to hotel easy listening music until some concoction of electronics and discordant scratches, clumps and nurdles destroy any worry that things are getting too smooth. Listen to tracks like He Can Jog’s remix of A Way to Emerge, which really walks the line between begging to be skipped or turned off and presenting something genuinely beautiful.
There’s a psychedelic edge to this record that conjures up some of the Cocteau Twins’ more dreamy moments as well as some of the more drugged elements of Glide’s canon (check out the Emanuelle Errantee remix of All We Have Left). A Secret Search is genuinely trippy, the beats and electronic squiggles disorientate the senses: it’s difficult for the listener to come to terms with the track’s fractured melody and shifting vocals. Tracks like Do Outro Lado Do Espelho also get the “Sigur Ros” treatment; namely, plaintive vocals and scratching, windswept sounds over a gently plodding rhythm, but ‘tis is no bad thing.
All in all a very pleasant and rewarding listen. I’d hunt this down.