Review: Lost Souls Of Saturn - Lost Souls Of Saturn

I started writing this review whilst listening to the final three tracks of LSOS, and I think it is pertinent to mention that the Resident Advisor review I read pays particular attention to this as the high point of the album. In some ways I cannot disagree but it doesn't sway me to ignore the rest, far from it.

To be truthful, I had no idea this was dropping. Seth Troxler is known to me as a DJ and producer but I hadn't followed his previous work with anything more than passing interest and had I been out at Fabric, Ministry of Sound or any of the Ibiza super clubs during his attendance I'd have more than likely paid more attention. We are where we are.

Phil Moffa is a total enigma to me and it was only by a little bit of research that I found out he too is DJ, producer and "sought after audio engineer", albeit I must be fairly out of touch as I didn't recognize any of the names he's worked with other than Troxler.

The various things said about the album on RA and the Bandcamp site for LSOS certainly attach some intrigue to the project, suggesting this is more than just a straight listening experience and that through the various multimedia platforms now at our fingertips in the new millennium, we will be able to 'immerse' ourselves in Troxler and Moffa's concept much more deeply.

I am intrigued, I will admit.

Structurally, the album is a bit of a mess and it does feel like a mish-mash of ideas all dumped into the proverbial grinder and churned out the other end as aural mincemeat...

...but that in itself is a contributor to the intrigue...

Imagine Future Sound Of London meets The Orb, meets some weird conglomeration of the best of 70's Sci-fi movie soundtracks, together with tribal, jazz, choral, techno, minimal house and other elements. It is a musical gumbo that much is true, but they're onto something and it hooks you in.

From the ambient opener Connection the listener is treated to a series of computer noises, whirrs and echoes alongside the tuning of a radio frequency (supposedly somewhere off in deep space?). This transitions into System Anomalies, coming into being with a heartbeat pulse rhythm crescendoing slowly as robotic voices and scratches sear their marks across your eardrums. Far off screams, whistles and a shuffling tempo which could've easily been constructed using an old Moog synthesiser come into being, and then fade away into the background to re-present the heartbeat to end the track.

Midnight Karma starts ominously with beeps, pops a not-so-far off ascending 'space oboe' overlay that rises and falls, finally allowing the first true beats of the album to reveal themselves a la Leftfield...you'll know what I mean the minute you hear it. Bass rises amid the drums and the woodwind arrives and leaves throughout, and we are treated to what I would guess is a Troxler track, as this one is pretty much danceable. Take my money, Fabric....I am coming...(again).

Next comes Divine Plane (Meditation Des Enfants), which starts almost like it's halfway through itself, picking up driving beats like its predecessor but opting for a less fussy interplay between other instruments and samples, making it somewhat more straightforward, yet cheekily funky. There are some nice spoken word samples here and vocal instrumentation, and it works well in tandem with Midnight Karma; proof positive if anyone still needs it that track ordering is king.

The voices that fade in and out over the distorted airwaves at the start of Genesis Singularity give it a somewhat eerie quality, and when they come into being it turns out to be Jim Lovell citing the words from Genesis in the Bible during the Apollo 8 mission to circumnavigate the moon for the first time in December 1968. You could perceive this as a little corny, but I didn't mind it at all.

Back to the beats again and we have Lunarvision, which thumps along accompanied by some echoey tribal chanting and bass, before fading out back 'into the jungle'.

Ring Transmission is ambient again, has a rippling bleep-and-bass combination, and is coupled with a shadowy sequence of rumbles and choral cries; echoes of a faraway place in space.

The final trio of tracks work strongly together and it is here where Troxler and Moffa seem to more closely knit some of the crazy ideas together. Lost Souls Of Saturn has a dirty bass underlay with an insistent beat, introducing trumpet, oboe and flute calls alongside other orchestral elements and a computerized backdrop of radar-like beeps, whirls and boings. The track eventually peels a lot of that back away to focus on the beats in a very hypnotic way, occasionally pushing back in some distorted samples or dropping the beat temporarily into the background and fading it back in. You can see the heads bobbing to this one.

Next up is Frequency Revelation which begins with dramatic rising strings and a humming presence, broken only on around 4 minutes by some scratchy radio static. By minute 5 we have a whirling electro-echo to accompany the hum and this rises and falls until fade out. The simplicity of this track gives it a very dramatic feeling, and a sense of being marooned or alone with the majesty and/or infinite terror of space is very evident.

The closing track is The Awakening which hums into being somewhat similarly to Frequency Revelation, this time trying to tune in through the static and allowing some vocals into the mix in the form of chant/prayer. The somewhat spiritual sounding vocals eventually fade out to end the album.

I am impressed to a larger extent with Troxler and Moffa's effort here. They clearly doff their hats to many of the sub-genres of Electronic music that influenced them during their careers and whilst there are disparate elements - going from 2 ambient tracks to 2 techno efforts and back again??? - it can be forgiven as the aesthetic quality of their compositions stands up.

Maybe that is because I am not searching for a particular depth of theme or meaning to this that they themselves (or the wider music press) are, but I listened/enjoyed/listened again/enjoyed again. Sometimes we are simple creatures and the 'fluff' that can be wrapped around some of an artist or collaboration's releases - in an attempt to be cool, alternative, expanding their reach, deeper in meaning etc. - just isn't really necessary. If it gives them pleasure doing it and stimulates creativity, then fine. I have no issue.

Is it okay though if I just listen, enjoy, dance and repeat?

8/10

Badger x