LAGEOS, the new full-length collaboration from Actress and the London Contemporary Orchestra, is an album of unfolding sounds and alternate perspectives coming together as one.
Step into the album's first track, "LAGEOS," and you will find orchestral hits and swells processed and morphed until they become at times unrecognizable. The combination of Actress's and the LCO's respective mindsets creates an electro-acoustic canvas where different sounds play off of or into each other, constantly informed by what's happening around them.
Tracks such as "Momentum" contain string movements and glitchy noise that twist and play around each other, rattling between the spheres, occasionally allowing one side to win out over the other. Others, such as "Galya Beat," explode with digital percussion and dissonant acoustic sounds.
The album feels just as inspired by the history of such genres as free jazz and electro-acoustic improvisation as it does by the individual histories of Actress and the LCO. "Chasing Numbers" has a harp line that wouldn't feel out of place among many a free improv group, but is anchored by a sparse drum line that calls to mind Actress's history of making dance music, and creates a wholly fresh listening experience.
The reinterpretations of "N.E.W." and "Hubble" offer fresh looks at a few of Actress's older tracks and help revitalize them once more. Overall, LAGEOS is an engaging listen that just might surprise you in the places it goes.
(Ninja Tune)Step into the album's first track, "LAGEOS," and you will find orchestral hits and swells processed and morphed until they become at times unrecognizable. The combination of Actress's and the LCO's respective mindsets creates an electro-acoustic canvas where different sounds play off of or into each other, constantly informed by what's happening around them.
Tracks such as "Momentum" contain string movements and glitchy noise that twist and play around each other, rattling between the spheres, occasionally allowing one side to win out over the other. Others, such as "Galya Beat," explode with digital percussion and dissonant acoustic sounds.
The album feels just as inspired by the history of such genres as free jazz and electro-acoustic improvisation as it does by the individual histories of Actress and the LCO. "Chasing Numbers" has a harp line that wouldn't feel out of place among many a free improv group, but is anchored by a sparse drum line that calls to mind Actress's history of making dance music, and creates a wholly fresh listening experience.
The reinterpretations of "N.E.W." and "Hubble" offer fresh looks at a few of Actress's older tracks and help revitalize them once more. Overall, LAGEOS is an engaging listen that just might surprise you in the places it goes.