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LEITMOTIV LIMBO - Superior State

Format: LP Label & Cat.Number: De La Catessen DLC014 Release Year: 2023 Note: the second album for this project from Adelaide (Australia), 12 miniatures of reductionist / minimalist quasi-rhythmic structures, reminding on some PANASONIC, GOEM or WERKBUND material, performed on self-built analogue instruments, sounding like "electricity pulsing through wires; the humming of the central nervous system; the quiet hiss of deserted computer laboratories; the pulsations of plant life; the molecular vibration of atoms." - lim. 300 copies Price (incl. 19% VAT): €26.00 More Info Superior State is the second Leitmotiv Limbo album released by Port Adelaide’s De la Catessen Records, after the 2022 CD Spiritual Disturbance. This time, Leitmotiv Limbo’s isolationist studies have been bumped to vinyl, which feels like the perfect format for these twelve miniatures. The project of Adelaide artist Elijah Värttö, Leitmotiv Limbo has, over the past few decades, tracked a history of quietly insistent experimentation, embracing several technologies – invented instruments; analogue filters; drum synth – to sketch desolate, cavernous structures, sometimes performed in reverberant spaces, such as church halls, which gifts the recordings a ritualistic air. For Superior State, Värttö is more intently focused on rhythms and pulses, resulting in a beautifully sculpted collection of poetic vignettes. You can hear some trace elements, here, of the minimalist techno-not-techno of artists like Pan Sonic, or Studio 1/Freiland, in their reductionist ethos. But also, in the insistence of Värttö’s attention to detail, and his careful focus on a delimited number of elements, the twelve pieces on Superior State recall the work of mysterious German outfits Werkbund and Mechthild Von Leutsch, or the solo explorations of artists like Asmus Tietchens, Achim Wollscheid and Goem. It's intensely evocative music, recalling all kinds of phenomena, both man-made and natural: electricity pulsing through wires; the humming of the central nervous system; the quiet hiss of deserted computer laboratories; the pulsations of plant life; the molecular vibration of atoms. Värttö has tapped into the poetry of the programmatic on Superior State, and he’s sharp in his grasp of the significant effect that the incremental shifting of a few simple parameters can have on the overarching structures he’s building here. Indeed, that poetry is echoed back in the beautiful liner notes by Adelaide artist Michael Hocking. Alive, flickering with incident, Superior State is energy transmitted, coursing through the collective’s veins. Music recorded in a room on Nile St, Port Adelaide across six evenings, of one week in January 2023. Instruments of analogue electronics were built, performed and recorded by Elijah Värttö directly to 4-track tape, with two room mics. The instruments form four quarters, as two hemispheres mirrored. Each hemisphere has a symmetry of structure, albeit comprised of differing materials. Detail of artwork: spray paint on metal by Elijah Värttö Mastered for vinyl by Giuseppe Ielasi Design by Sam Songailo ℗ Elijah Värttö 2023 © De la Catessen Records 2023 "While I recognized the Leitmotiv Limbo immediately, I was surprised that I had already reviewed four previous releases by Elijah Värttö's music project (Vital Weekly 951, 1152, 1219 and 1336). All of these were on cassette, but now it's time to do the next step and release an LP. The music is ready for it, I'd say. Värttö sounds like a Finnish name, but he's from Adelaide, just like the label here, who also re-issued the 'Spiritual Disturbance' cassette on CD. The press information talks about "invented instruments, analogue filters, drum synth" and influences of Pan Sonic, Studio 1 (Wolfgang Voigt rather than the dub label), Freiland, but also Werkbund, Asmus Tietchens, Achim Wollscheid and Goem. Some of these names I am very familiar with, and while I can't say these people don't influence him, I also believe that maybe, except for Werkbund and Tietchens, I don't hear these influences to that extent. Rhythm plays an undeniable part in the music here. Still, there is only some of that 'techno that isn't techno' of Pan Sonic or Goem here (more the latter than the first, in 'Parading Brutality', for instance), nor the conceptual edge of somebody such as Wollscheid. In these twelve pieces, I hear more of a nod towards mid-80s industrial music, where you can find albums by Tietchens of similar musical interests. Also, given the more loop-like approach, a group like Dome (in 'Relative Space', for instance). This LP is a giant leap forward compared to the previous cassette works. There was naivety in his older work, which was most enjoyable, but rightfully, it was time to move on. Leitmotiv Limbo now exercises more control, more composition, if you will. There is less of that 'roll the tape and see what happens' approach, but the music here is to the point. There is no endless wailing about, but each of the twelve compositions is just that. Not too industrial, never noisy, but with a studio-as-instrument approach, exploring uncharted territory on the sonic map. I can hardly wait for the next one." [Vital Weekly] https://leitmotivlimbo.bandcamp.com/album/superior-state