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Isan, "Plans Drawn In Pencil"
There is a big difference between a musician and a gearhead, and when the music becomes more about the technological process than the product, its creators sadly become the most entertained audience.
Tech fetishists can rejoice in the new collaboration between Antony Ryan and Robin Saville. Not only does it sound like it has been produced by people who spent far more time messing with each individual blip than writing powerful melodies; the cover artwork is a schematic diagram showing the duo's setup with labels for LFO, OSC, ring mod, envelope, and other stuff that only tech-heads could possibly find cool. There are some cool sounds on the album, don't get me wrong; Isan have clearly mastered the craft of sound creation. Although the music is instrumental electronic pop, I never feel I'm hearing the same tired old sounds used for beats, bass and melody.
Plans Drawn In Pencil is 45 minutes of peaceful music which I have, on more than one occasion, used to fall asleep to and could easily have playing in the background at work. Warm bass sounds are on the threshold of hearing in the tracks "Look and Yes," while "Ship" is like how I feel when I'm out in the country, away from all the city lights under a galaxy of bright stars.
I listen to a lot of music that is void of melody and focused on the development of the sounds themselves, however most of the artists disregard the pop framework and let songs and sounds evolve into much more vast and monumental pieces. The best tracks on this disc are far too short: "Seven Mile Marker" and "Roadrunner" have a promising momentum, but Ryan and Saville miss good opportunities for lead melodic development. I would love to hear the beat-less "Immoral Architecture" stretched out beyond 20 minutes, however at only 3½, it leaves much more room for throwaway bits like the gimmicky slowing of "Five to Four, Ten to Eleven" or the cheesy fake theremin sounds on "Yttrium" (which is not a Fridge cover).
By the end of the disc, I'm not in discomfort, but I'm also not satisfied. While Isan might be experimenting with more daring musical endeavors, the duo could easily be doomed to be only represented by what the record labels they work with are prepared to release.
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