This new collaboration between DiN label boss Ian Boddy and guitarist Markus Reuter finds the pair furtively mapping a half-lit territory between nocturnal prog and ambient electronica. This latest meeting works by virtue of the duo’s unspoken sympathy, cultivated over their numerous albums together.
There’s little friction here due to their obvious comfort in working as a unit, which isn’t to say the music is devoid of tension. Boddy’s oozing analogue electronics and Reuter’s howling guitar conspire to suggest scenes of intrigue – at their least anchored they recall the noirish soundscapes of Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton’s landmark score for the groundbreaking BBC thriller Edge Of Darkness.
The electro-blip rhythms are the album’s weakest element, sounding perfunctory at best, dated at worst. Without them, the music approaches the immersive immensity of Blanck Mass, whose track Chernobyl recently appeared in Ben Wheatley’s psychedelic English Civil War thriller A Field In England.
For all their strengths, Boddy and Reuter would be well advised to either brush up on their rhythm programming or consider jettisoning the beats altogether.
