Slavin returns with his 11th studio album, fixated with Crime time ambient poster sunsets and middle-eastern noire; opening up with Saturday’s Dress’, awash with ambient sub-textures and wiry electronic low-fi scratches.
The lounge electronica of ‘Category: Murder Entertainers’ sets the scene for the rest of the album. With stop/start loops and a nostalgic veil over the sound as a whole, Slavin creates a thick atmosphere that resonates as an image of over saturated film, overplayed until it burns away from the reel.
There is an underlying Jazz influence throughout, that battles constantly with the electronic format with which this album is created. The warring factions make for an interesting and surprisingly complementary voyage of experimentation; that keeps the listener on their toes.
With ‘Bittersweet Melodies’, Ran has created an album that should appeal to small cross sections of many a genre lover; appealing to those who are willing to accept traditional music sources as scattered and broken storytelling arcs, with a hint of shoe gazer appeal to boot.
via Black Audio