It’s an odd combination, Soccer Committee’s delicate folk recordings handled by electronic composer Machinefabriek’s digital treatments would usually make for a questionable work, but instead the electronic elements are subtle, and rather than detracting from the fragile vocals and guitar instead give it a different, unnatural edge.
Most of the electronic processing and instrumentation remains extremely subtle: the microbits of static and near sub-audible power line hums of "Very Well Drawn" never shift attention away from Mariska Baar’s sparse vocals and plaintive playing, but instead add an entirely different, yet totally complimentary, layer to the mix. Similarly, the acoursic guitar of "For I Have None" receives only subtle and slight phasing and flanging, while the vocals are buried in a nice warm layer of reverb, along with the occasional white noise swell.
Songs like "Di-o-day" are almost imperceptibly treated, the electronic elements are buried deep in the mix, the focus being on the untreated guitar and pure vocals, the electronics laying deep in the mix provide more of a subtle ambience than anything else. On "Mees", the production simply serves to bury the guitar distant in the mix, the remainder of the track hovering near complete silence.
There is a bit more notable electronic treatments on tracks like "Thole 1," which has high end shrill feedback and string like layers that dominate the mix, the angelic vocals obscured below the din. More subtle is the layers of warm static and noise on “Magpie” which sound more like the result of a record laying in dusty storage for years and being played for the first time.
Only the opening and closing tracks ("High Pitched Drone" I and II) feel purely electronic, the first part having quiet lo-fi vocals and digital harmonium type tones, while the latter is a collection of fragile, yet rich tones that are beautiful in their purity.
The combination of traditional folk instrumentation and more modern electronic treatments work very well here, rather than constantly overshadowing each other they instead provide beautiful counterpoints. Part of this is surely due to the fact that the electronic elements Machinefabriek adds to the mix have an organic, human quality that helps, rather than hurts, the delicate human voice and guitar that is here.
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