Throwing Snow: Isthmus (Houndstooth)
What is this? Like, Throwing Snow's fifth album or something? This is his first time at the sharp end of my annual album list. Jeez, he took his time. I've been waiting by the door for ages waiting for him to knock.
One reviewer likened this album to listening to a DJ. Its flow throughout is so smooth. And it is indeed engineered for the dancefloor. Unless you're listening to The Madness of The Bull, which sounds like a joust for a royal tournament set on a distant dusty dwarf planet.
The start of the album suckers you in: a spinning hoover of a siren beckons in the glam analogue stomp of Apricity, complete with imperceptible vocals smothered in fuzzy filters. Whispers sounds so detuned, it threatens to drip out of the speakers. Meanwhile, Chimera brings out the jazz drummer, only it's a robot with its own marching tune of sinister scraping pads.
Closer Tides gets out those detuned circuits again, this time drowning everything in a wash of cross-chained static. As the noise abates, we get the saddest moment of the album as plaintive notes mourn the end of a superbly curated collation of techno.
At this point in my waffle words, I would delve into the meaning of "Isthmus". I can just look it up on the album blurb: it's all there ready to be written up and to be made fun out of. But I did a definition skit on my previous album review, so I'm not doing it again. You can get lost. Pfffrt.
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