Mikael Stavostrand | Lite
Mitek | CD
"In the morning their webs are seen as the sun illuminates them, often full with dewdrops, glistening. Despite being extremely delicate, their silk is stronger than steel. If you were to look at a strand under a microscope, you would see little beads of sticky liquid, inside each tiny bead is more spider silk, coiled up like a spring. When the trapped prey struggles, the coils unwind and the strand stretches so the prey can't get free…"
The first release on Mikael Stavostrand's long-awaited Mitek imprint is an album of gossamer fine constructions; each of its eleven tracks bearing witnness to the most finely wrought of structures, precision engineered to perfection. Wisp-like audio tendrils unfurl, captivating and mesmerising, spinning a web of shimmering beauty.
For some time now Stavostrand's work has been undergoing a process of refinement and distillation and 'Lite' is welcome evidence of the results of this procedure. Unravelling like Pole or the best of Koln label Kompakt's minimal electronica fluctuations, the eleven tracks evolve as warm screes of lush electronica, pulsing and fluttering with life.
Tracks 09 and 10 (all tracks are untitled) are exquisite in their gemlike minimalism, despite their brevity (two and one minutes respectively) they shimmer and pulse, alive with sound and energy. Track 10, in particular, bursts into life for the briefest of moments yet, despite ending abruptly, it remains somehow strangely more compelling than a mere sketch: almost a stolen glance at some musical space overflowing with potential.
Track 11 is undoubtedly one of the highlights demonstrating a uniqueness of touch that is a rare joy to witness. Positioning the most exquisite shards of metallic rhythm against the softest of underlying structures it closes out the album leaving the listener eager for more.
[CM]
