As
electronica slowly infiltrates every day life more and
more, Telefon Tel Aviv seem to help the matter by moving
to more accessible territories with Map Of The Effortless,
their second album for Hefty. Yet, their debut, Fahrenheit
Fair Enough, already stood at the more straightforward
end of the electronic spectrum and, somehow, paved the
way for this more opened and approachable record.
Formed in New Orleans at the tail end of the nineties
by Joshua Eustis and Charles Cooper, Telefon Tel Aviv
first got noticed with a handful of remixes for Nine
Inch Nails and Slicker notably. It is with their first
album though that TTA really caught the attention of
the electronic masses. Combining the complex digital
signal processing of bands such as Autechre
or µ-ziq with
the melodic approach of the likes of Boards
Of Canada, Fahrenheit
Fair Enough proved charming and challenging
in equal measure. Two years on, Eustis and Cooper have
moved on, and so has their sound. Already, the band’s
contribution to Hefty’s Immediate Action
series of EPs, which featured vocal contribution from
Lindsey Anderson, had hinted at a change of direction,
and Map Of The Effortless simply continues
to integrate modern electronic soundscapes, acoustic
elements and vocal inputs to create something at once
beautiful and complex. Once again, Lindsey Anderson,
singer with experimental rock ensemble L’Altra,
lends a helping hand with vocals on a handful of tracks,
with Damon Aaron adding a more granular touch on other
songs. TTA also hired the services of the Loyola Chamber
Orchestra to give some interesting textures to the opening
track, When It Happens It All Moves By Itself,
and later on, on the title track and At The Edge
Of The World You Will Still Float.
This album sometimes veers dangerously close to coffee
table music (Bubble & Spike, Nothing
Is Worth Losing That), but it also develops some
interesting abstract ambient themes (the stunning epic
What It Is Without The Hand That Wields It),
more in line with the band’s debut. Yet, never
this album actually lets its audience down by making
concessions to commercialism. Yes, most of these tracks
are far more radio friendly than your average Warpery
, but the canvas on which Eustis and Cooper work allows
for imperfections and rough edges to come through. If
more accessible than its predecessor, Map Of What
Is Effortless nevertheless retains the essence
of what made Fahrenheit
Fair Enough such a compelling record. It must
be said though that it takes time to unravel this album’s
hidden beauties as the polished finishing often gets
in the way and tends to distract from the substance
of its soul.
Described by the band as laptop soul, the songs of Map
Of The Effortless appear more simple and straightforward
than they actually are, yet, this album deals with the
band’s stylistic dichotomy rather well as Eustis
and Cooper blend, in most part, sharp electronic soundscapes
and accessible melodies into beautiful sonic constructions.
3.9/5 |
