STL - At Disconnected Moments

Label: Smallville Records – SMALLVILLE CD 08
Format: CD, Album
Country: Germany
Released: Jan 27, 2014
Genre: Electronic
Style: Dub Techno, Ambient

At Disconnected Moments is the record that STL's admirers had long been waiting for — and hoping against hope they might one day receive. Stephan Laubner has no interest in fame, and his reluctance to release music outside of his own Something label is well documented. That reluctance is what makes this album so significant: it is his first LP not released on Something, arriving on Smallville — the label that was home to two of his most celebrated recordings, Neurotransmitting Clouds On The Secret Freeway and Silent State, both of which reappear here alongside seven further compositions.

The album is drenched in field recordings, background textures lending organic and natural context to every spacious interlude. Percussions are sanded to a smooth finish but left without polish — soft to the touch, rugged and matte, refusing to deny their natural origin in favour of synthetic lacquer. Lead track Scuba's Motion Dub grips and pulls the listener deeper into the murky depths the album inhabits over ten unhurried minutes. One Day offers the album's first proper teaser of its tremendous capacity for melody and harmony, muffled yet bright brass samples making their way through the mix halfway through with extraordinary effect. Silent State — still as fresh and exciting now as it was upon release — justifies every second of its twelve-minute running time as a perfect example of less being more. Good Wine breaks the album's arc beautifully with a beatless chamber of heavy ghosts before Ghostly Ambit and Over And Out bring it to a decidedly sombre close. Truly compelling listening that rewards all the patience its listeners afford it.

→ READ REVIEW BY JOE COLLIER