Poemss Poemss

This Poemss CD has turned up at my house with a somewhat sexist note from Norman Towers II's resident post-it goblin - "Venetian Snares In "Gone Soft" Shock - Woman Responsible...", it opines. What it's trying to tell me is that Poemss is the duo of Aaron Funk and Toronto-based musician/artist Joanne Pollock, and it's somewhat less heavy-duty than Funk's output under his Venetian Snares alias.

It's true that this certainly is not a VS record, the pair have pieced together a smokily seductive brew of skewed pop full of chopped up synths, computerised glitches, warm boomy dub bass and breathy vocals, with both contributors' input being roughly equal. It's a woozy concoction, far from the crisp and skittish electronics we're used to from Funk, but it's really nicely done - a pleasant surprise rather than a nasty shock.

Think Omar Rodriguez Lopez's recent forays into synthpop but dripping in reverb and all blurzed up through some Hype Williams-meets-Flying Lotus treacle-tinted spectacles. Sensuous, chilly, smudgy, nocturnal synthpop.