Inch Time - The Floating World

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3...according to our Clinton on Fri 19 Nov, 2010.

Over the past year or two I've picked up several Inch Time recordings many of which have impressed me with their haunting atmospheres and gentle 4/4 rhythms. I was a little disappointed initially with the first couple of tracks on this album as they veered off into a more synthy direction but by 'Of Times Past' normal service has been resumed though it does sound like on this album the wizard behind the project Stefan Panczak is preparing to stretch himself away from the dubby techno he does so expertly. Its beautifully warm, organic electronica - simple piano chords are placed over haunting synths and theres the odd rhodes piano tinkering away in the background. The influences and comparisons are quite clear, various Basic Channel, Kompakt as well as the noise made by the likes of Metamatics, Strategy, Murcof. Its a little synthetic in places and an injection of 'real' instruments could create a more diversity and dimension but on tracks such as 'Late Spring' there's a suprising amount of variety in sound as the track unfurls itself and moves into new territories.

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After a handful of albums, seven-inch singles, twelve-inches, cassettes and remixes released on various labels, Stefan Panczak
aka Inch-time issues the first recording on his new label, Mystery Plays Records. The latest full-length in this growing discography,
The Floating World, comes hot on the heels of his cassette A Handful of Dub, released earlier this year. Despite being very different in tone, the two releases share several strands of musical DNA and this new offering is a clear progression of the Australian-born, London-based composer’s vision. Inch-time’s serene electronica is nearsomnambulant in its quiet grace and elegance, gliding like tectonic plates. From jazz-imbued circular melodies to cascading synths and eerie atmospherics, the brushed beauty of The Floating World finds Panczak crafting dizzyingly effective ambient works, combining a whole raft of instrumentation with sleek electronics and crackling percussion. At times channelling Brian Eno at his most rhythmic – and especially Eno’s collaborations with David Byrne – Inch-time’s closest contemporaries include the likes of Isan, and Robin Saville’s solo efforts, though the crystalline, sychtinged electronica of Four Tet and Animal Collective are also close cousins.

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