Soft Focus – “Soft Focus” – [Sahko Recordings]

Lady Labyrinth   1/29/2014   12-inch, A Library

Do Satyrs Dream of Electric Sheep?
Instrumental Sci-Fi Impressionism. Dissonant Liminal Chillscapes. Instrumentation with a capital I.

With tracks like Emergence delirium it feels like the hypnotist’s voice has just faded out into a clock melting surrealist landscape or you wandered into some kind of groovy yet suspenseful melting dreamscape of your grandparent’s psyche. Regenerative Apnea was very “Eastern Sounds” feeling, Peacocks in opium hazes smoked with Oscar Wilde. This one made me thirsty for Lemonade and extended pink sunsets in Xanadu. And Panique Onirique is an cloudy whole tone landscaping ‘romping with the satyrs on planet X. Some electro vibes float in on this one, like the music playing during a Captain Kirk picnic with a Space Babe just when the plot starts to thicken but she’s still got that glamour lens on her and everything’s cool for the next 90 seconds at least.

Album proudly states the record was made totally “using completely analogic signal chain” for the tastefully discerning Luddite pendants out there to whom analog is their one true mistress. They coulda mixed in a little more clanky abstract noise and I wouldn’t have minded one bit. Restrained but relaxed.