Looping signatures, bubbling spirals of bass and layers of widescreen synths spread smoothly over motorik rhythms are the defining features of ‘OFF / ON’. Purely instrumental, the tracks juxtapose repetitive, tightly wound micronoodles with broad sweeping sounds.
Using analogue kit spanning retro drum machines and Moogs to recreate the sound and spirit of electro pioneers – there are hints of Jean Michelle Jarre here – OFF / ON could reasonably be describe as a work of retro-futurism.
‘Forma 306C’ does deviate from the rather rigid robotic template to create a somewhat disorientating electronic fairground, and ‘Mechanique’, with a running time of eleven minutes and eleven seconds and sitting bang in the middle of the track listing is in every way the album’s centrepiece. Stretching out across a mesmeric Krafterwerkian soundscape, it encapsulates everything ‘OFF / ON’ is about.
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But across the album as a whole, the lack of variety and, moreover, the lack of humanity can become alienating and monotonous, the sterility bleaching out the creativity. That isn’t to say that music like this doesn’t have a place or a purpose, but 80s computer game soundtracks work better in conjunction with visual elements.
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