Lusine, A Certain Distance (Ghostly International)
Sep 9, 2009 3:00 PM, Dominic Umile
Down to the last detail
The latest full-length to be issued under Jeff McIlwain's Lusine moniker twinkles with crystalline flourishes that suggest overtweaking and hours of careful, detail-oriented sound design. A Certain Distance's serving of structured electronic pop and ambient techno feels intimate and layered, with somewhat-obscured conversation bits and room noise becoming apparent in every listen.
Lusine's A Certain Distance is mostly wordless, but the Seattle-based producer welcomes guest vocalists Vilja Larjosto and Caitlin Sherman on several tracks. The former's spot lends the final gloss to "Twilight," which has nothing to do with the underwhelmingly sexless vampire novels of the same name—in a glitchy percussion pattern and dewy melodies, McIlwain's arrangement here lands in the neighborhood of the electro-pop that Ghostly's hip School of Seven Bells has been developing. Sherman's contribution is chopped and scattered amid hypnotic synth swirls and warm funk on "Gravity," the only decipherable word in the mix.
In place of a central vocalist, McIlwain's petite, shuffling base is sometimes peppered with vocoders or heavily treated verse segments. He employs this device sparingly, such as on unexpected house track "Crowded Room" toward the album's close. This symmetrical endeavor—equal parts dance music and upbeat pop—should find advocates of both genres welcoming its glassy, potent sonics with open arms. [3.5 out of 5 stars]
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