Regolith - And... (CD)

The consistently impressive cerebral minimalists at Runningonair have sent us another of their ridiculously limited CDs, this time from duo Regolith. These are process-oriented compositions with electronic and minimal orchestral elements, some of which have had the electronics written to fit the orchestral parts, some vice versa.

What results is quite remarkable and beautiful, with the metronomic repetition of electronic pulses combing gracefully across the delightful rolling melodies on strings and piano in ‘Happy Summer Days’ in a way which strongly reminds me and Phil of Philip Glass, but with more of a cerebral element to the little clicky electronic rhythms. I could listen to this one over and over.

While that track is a highlight, there’s very little not to recommend about this whole CD. There’s cerebral otherworldly weirdness in spades but it’s always tempered by that soft, organic neoclassical approach so you’re never too mired down in impossibly brainy computer frequencies. In fact what’s striking me the most about this is the complexity and broadness of the emotional expression contained on what I initially thought was going to be a fairly intellectual and challenging listen - this is far more than just beard-strokers’ minimal.

There’s always a precision and cleanness to the sounds but the glitches, clicks and electronic scree mixed with live instrumentation keep it from ever seeming clinical. This is close to perfect, I can’t believe there’s only 100 of them.