Restoration, by A Taut Line

Restoration by A Taut Line, released 06 September 2024 1. Eurasia 2. Tousui No Uzu 3. Jorum 4. Like Those Held 5. Gin Swab 6. Sacred, Not Chic 7. Snowfall on the Debris 8. Rubato 9. Imugem (Mountain House Mix) 10. In-Joy 11. Falling Again 12. 6Aita Restoration, A Taut Line's sixth full-length album, marks a kind of rebirth and new direction from the distinct expression of the critically acclaimed conceptual sister albums Loss (2022) and Never Any Gain (2023). There’s a sense of the youthful optimism of the earliest A Taut Line EPs tucked within disintegrated elements of deep house, trip-hop, hardcore, dub techno, post-punk, post-rock, and ambient that are all deftly weaved together to construct Lyne’s now trademark disoriented fourth-world sound. Lush, dense, humid, and packed full of emotive yet restless energy, there’s a sprawling nature to the bumpy journey Restoration takes you on. ‘In-Joy’, an upbeat mangled-VHS rendering of a Terada-esque J-house groove, sits only a few tracks after ‘Snowfall on the Debris’, a piece recorded in response to the devasting scenes of the aftermath of the Noto Peninsula earthquake, which uses traditional Japanese instrumentation intersected with icy glockenspiel droplets, a haunting choral ostinato, and heart-wrenching accordion laments. Opener ‘Eurasia’ sounds like a Vex’d and Goth-Trad collaborative production of an A Certain Ratio and His-n-Hers-era Pulp amalgamation; whereas closing number 6Aita evokes the image of a Kodak-Super-8 filmed documentary about a To Rococo Rot live tour where the bus driver was exclusively listening to a Boards of Canada remix of Smashing Pumpkins’ 1979. Nervy and mercurial, there is plenty of room to find something to your liking within this volatile kaleidoscope of mutant hybrid sounds.