Lutine

Well, this says it better than I could and echoes many of my thoughts on this album so, in lieu of a simple ditto I'd add simply that these songs are delicate yet driven, heartfelt rather than hearty and, importantly in this instance, kept beautifully simple. Mostly, I'm a fan of excess; I like adding things, my favourite colour is rainbow-coloured (actually, I stole that line from my wife), my favourite sounds are the ones you didn't hear the first time you listened. But this album shows the beauty in minimalism, in the same way Ricardo Villalobos shows the beautiful minimalist heart of techno. It's minimal but it feels like it has to be. This isn't a wistful conceit, it's a complete package, exquisitely wrought.

Consider their version of Died Of Love, for instance. It keeps the same slow-hearted longing for death that I recognise from, say, the Kemper Norton version but manages to bathe it in an altogether different light. The same emotion, rendered from a different consciousness, like the song is acting as an aural Rorschach. I'd suggest the two (three) got together for a Sonny n Cher (of the suicide set? - no, that was Chris and Cosey) style rendition, each playing off the others (The Others), each trying to assert their spin, each digging another layer (or each peeling a skin). I dunno, it sounds cool in my head.