My account

Oval - VOA

Name: Oval - VOA
Item: Oval - VOA
Author: Angus Finlayson

Published
Nov 13, 2013
Words
Angus Finlayson
Label
White label
Released
October 2013
Genre
Experimental

Share
Glitch pioneer Markus Popp is best known for his mid-90s LPs on Mille Plateux, such as Systemisch and 94diskont, but these days he's working to a different tune entirely. Since he revived the name Oval with 2010's O, Popp developed a vivacious new sound, suffused with rich, bright sonics and defined as much by the playful contours of free improvisation as by the strictures of loop-based electronic music. His music has never been quite as austere as the Clicks & Cuts tag might imply, but his recent output, while still glitchy, has been melodious in the extreme—pastoral, even. In Calidostopia!, a free-to-download LP from earlier this year, Popp embraced pop-musicality even more, pairing off his compositions (some pre-released, some new) with a series of singers from South America. VOA is a sibling to that release, in that it mostly draws from tracks produced during the same 10 day session in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, and enlists the same cast of singers. But this, we're told, is the bigger brother, and not just because you need to pay for it: it features what Popp terms the "A-selection" of tracks from the session (i.e. his favourites), as well as half a dozen brand new, singer-less Oval compositions. Certainly, the record's opening—"Drift" featuring Augustin Albrieu—suggests a markedly different, weightier album. Albrieuwas probably Calidostopia!'s greatest asset, and he's allowed to stretch out over the two longest tracks here (the other, "Sediment," is a dirge-pop ballad of Radiohead-esque dimensions). The Oval originals, meanwhile, suggest a darker, knottier direction, though they're not the album's most striking moments. Mostly, though, this record sounds very similar to Calidostopia! Many of these brief tracks feel like single verse-and-choruses removed from their parent songs, their ideas only minimally developed. And as with its predecessor, the album's success hinges on the quality and appropriateness of the singers' contributions—the deftness with which they can weave themselves into these dense sonic tapestries. There are shaky moments. Andres Gualdron's version of "Credit Line" is pointillist to the point of feeling insubstantial. On "Hmmm," Maite Gadea's voice is more or less swallowed up by the backing, as if she's struggling to be heard in soundcheck. But mostly the collisions are a success. Dandara's "Stop Motion I" and "Heroic" are particularly pretty. "Oslo" sees Hana Kobayashi outline a string of sugar-pop gestures over a squall of drums to charming effect. Overall VOA is a fractionally stronger album than its predecessor, but it's not a huge step forward. Then again, would we have expected it to be? Like Calidostopia! before it, this one sweeps by in a gorgeous blur, lovely even when it isn't surprising.
Tracklist

Home

Events̸

London̸

Music̸

Reviews̸

Films̸