WOEBOT

Softland
War againstt error.
SPEZIALMATERIAL

Softland is Christof Steinmann, multi-media dabbler, student of audio visual arts, and the cheekily monikered “War against error” is his second release for the widely praised Swiss Spezialmaterial imprint. With its distinctively generic minimal “glitch-art” sleeve graphics (a tasteful collage of pixelated print and elegantly stroked vectors) you know precisely the kind of charmingly low-key, faintly unprepossesive sounds that are going to emanate from it.

Hurdle the first track, “Please confirm the world” with its off-putting Sylvian-with-a-sore throat vocals, and you have twenty one essentially lovely tracks stretched in front of you. The reason qualification is required is that “Meter” (skippy bleep patterns meet Bebe Barron-style drones), “Moire” (Eno-isms), “Mille” (gyrating electro-harmonies) and “Wlochy” (“Dark” fangless post-Fungle bests), while unassumingly excellent, don’t exactly burn down the house, mess meaningfully with any templates or promote much more than a tacit approval. It’s the wearingly familiar case of underachieving, carefully cloistered Electronica. The pretentious interstitials, field recordings marked by their map reference numbers “44º50'N 14º25'E” like “46º32'N 8º21'E”, though sonically appropriate, contribute to the general air of preciousness.

There are more attractive elements that deserve recognition, the springy World-of-Echo double bass on “Huch” and again the double bass on “Llum”, this time played right through the depths of the piece to quite powerful and poignant effect. It’s touches like these which push the record into the black, and it’s only a shame there isn’t more use of the instrument elsewhere on the record. As Francois Rabbath proved with his 60s recordings, it can be wielded artfully.