Long Light

Description

Seattle-based producer Jeff McIlwain, aka Lusine, returns with his ninth album, Long Light, marking his twentieth year with the label Ghostly International. Cited as an influence by a myriad of electronic artists, including London’s Loraine James (Whatever the Weather), Lusine is known for visceral and kinetically curious music that blends techno, pop, and experimental composition. In recent years, Jeff has pushed his art to new heights with more collaborative and avant-garde work. Long Light shines a spotlight on the bottom line; its iconic looping patterns and textures are dynamic yet minimalist as always. Structurally simple, finely tuned, and bright, his music radiates in the most direct way to date. It features vocal contributions from Asy Saavedra, Sarah Jaffe, as well as participation from Vilja Larjosto and Benoît Pioulard, who had previously collaborated on the 2017 album Sensorimotor. Lusine found his sound early on, but he has never stopped pushing his potential. With Long Light, we find an artist extremely focused on the process with an exceptional level of clarity and immediacy. He identifies the central sound element, a vocal part or a simple rhythmic sequence from which to build everything else. Opening with "Come And Go," he multiplies a vocal take from his long-time collaborator Vilja Larjosto into a celestial choir. It’s the bass melody on the single "Zero to Sixty" that curves around Sarah Jaffe’s voice. On "Dreaming," he makes subtle changes to the timbre and texture of Asy Saavedra’s (Chaos Chaos) voice as chimes, tinklings, and claps oscillate. With "Long Light," it’s the rhythms built from drummer Trent Moorman’s samples and a tender poetic twist from his friend Thomas Meluch, aka Benoît Pioulard (Morr Music, Kranky), that set the mood. The album balances vocal pop motifs with some of Lusine’s strongest instrumental expressions, from ambient inclinations ("Faceless," "Plateau," "Rafters") to the hypnotic head-nodders "Cut and Cover" and "Transonic." It’s rare to arrive at a work marking two decades in one’s career, but through repetition, refinement, and patience, Lusine extends a defining moment and delivers an essential piece of his discography. For fans of Shigeto, Plaid, Benoît Pioulard, Telefon Tel Aviv, Casino vs Japan, Steve Hauschildt.