Half
way between Autechre
and Bola is Quinoline Yellow. Through evocative soundscapes
and subtle melodic themes, London-based Luke Williams,
who adopted the name of an artificial food colouring
additive after reading it on a packaging, creates kaleidoscopic
sonic vignettes set within sumptuous self-contained
atmospheric structures.
Having spent his formative years in London listening
to hardcore techno and drum’n’bass on pirate
radio stations and regularly visiting the now defunct
Ambient Soho hunt, Williams began experimenting with
electronic music in the mid-nineties. After years of
solitary work, he sent demo mini-disks to a variety
of label and got noticed by Skam who rapidly offered
him to feature on one side of a split EP in their Smak
series. Since, Williams has released two more EPs (LMW
Motors and Cyriak Parasol), a Japan-only
CD-R split EP with long-term friend Myles Haughton (Duplo_Remote),
and a car air freshener.
Dol-Goy Assist expands on the beautiful soundscapes,
crunchy beats and clean-cut melodies of Williams’s
previous releases. Quinoline Yellow shares with Bola
and Boards Of Canada an
affinity for fluid sound constructions, but Williams’s
sharp angular vision gives his music a slightly more
mechanical feel. Each composition is assembled with
great precision and expertly produced. The shadow of
Autechre is sometimes
felt slightly too clearly (Liddingstick in
particular is very reminiscent of Eggshell),
but this hardly affects the general impression created
here. Sealed, which opens the album, is a fascinating
sonic jigsaw, which appears to constantly materialise,
only to evaporate almost instantly, while Tradmarc9
is vintage electronica at its best and Offgroundtouch
and Plotreturn reveal hidden orchestral depth.
Although Williams explores here a variety of moods,
this album remains extremely consistent all the way
through, evolving along clearly defined melodic and
sonic threads.
Beautifully crafted and put together, Dol-Goy Assist
is an extremely convincing and elegant debut album.
If Williams sometimes appears to stick to his formula
a tad too rigidly, his subtle sound layering and attention
to details, combined with heart-warming melodies, ensure
that this album delivers again and again.
3.9/5 |
