Deepchord
Hash-Bar Loops
Soma

It sounds like a statement of the obvious, but this really is an album that needs to be experienced in its entirety. It’s also a strange yet remarkable achievement, a single span of music from Ron Modell lasting 80 minutes that drifts in and out of focus, bathed in ambient white noise one minute before hitting solid four to the floor beats the next. Each move has an inevitability about it, so that when the opening atmospherics die away it seems only natural for the kick drum to take over. Influences from Detroit techno and west coast deep house are taken on board, but there are no obvious riffs and melodies here, more of a mood and a dream like state that lulls the listener into its spell. The fact it is able to do this without sounding inconsequential is a big plus, a testament of how Modell can sustain the tension of his writing. When ‘City Centre’ finally arrives, the most upfront track on the album at around an hour in, the sense of having journeyed there is too strong to ignore. A fine 20th anniversary present for Soma, this is an album that continues the label’s line of excellent long players.

5 Out Of 5

Reviewed By: Ben Hogwood