Faultline

U.K. producer David Kosten’s experiments with strictly instrumental electronic sounds led to the release of Closer, Colder in 1999 and the DJ-producer returned last year with a more broad-ranging collaborative effort that resulted in the album Your Love Means Everything. The 12 songs encapsulate a decidedly laconic but despairing mood — it feels rather like a concept album built around a rainy David Fincher film. This sense of slow sadness is typified by Kosten’s choice of guest vocalists who also co-write the songs they sing in the album. Chris Martin from Coldplay is featured on "Where Is My Boy?” and Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips swoons like a poet in the psychedelic track "The Colossal Gray Sunshine.” The relatively new artist Jacob Golden is a presence throughout the album. The mood is only mildly broken by the beautiful cover of the old classic "Greenfields” which Michael Stipe sings with equal parts élan and innocence. Kolsten’s instrumental outtakes are promising, and sometimes seem to draw more from the indie-guitar driven rock spirit rather than from his dance music roots, as in "Clocks.” He also works in ex-Verve guitarist Nick McCabe into the mix and the overall effect is always muted, rather than sounding like a messy ensemble of sounds. With such an evocative texture, the album in its entirety has to be savoured slowly. At times, the instrumentals can pass you by, but with repeated listening, Kosten’s mastery grows on you.