Sensorimotor (10th Anniversary Edition)

Description

Originally from Texas and now based in Seattle, Jeff McIlwain has built one of the most diverse discographies in the past fifteen years under the name Lusine, effortlessly blurring the lines between techno, electro-pop, and experimental composition. His fourth album for Ghostly, Sensorimotor, channels the pop tendencies of The Waiting Room (2013) into more opaque and textured melodies, driven by airy productions. The title draws on a double meaning: the literal, the integration of senses and actions, like birds moving in flocks with a fascinating fluidity. The symbolic, more difficult to articulate according to McIlwain himself, refers to the question of control over one's own artistic production — what to constrain, and what to leave to instinct. The album opens with "Canopy," which slowly builds into a cloud of chimes and buzzing, before transitioning to "Ticking Hands," written with his wife Sarah as a catharsis for the absences related to touring. Benoît Pioulard and Vilja Larjosto also make appearances, their voices processed and woven into the fabric of the productions. Working with an MPC1000, a borrowed Prophet 5, percussion, a glockenspiel, field recordings, and samples of live instruments, McIlwain merges the digital and real worlds. From "Chatter" and its Terry Riley samples to the large-format synths of "The Lift," Sensorimotor remains surprisingly cohesive from start to finish — a soundtrack for the listener's imagination as much as a Lusine album.