Man and machine, power and fragility, soft lines and hard edges: Andy Stott’s new record is poetry carved in stone, is a spade being rammed in hard-frozen soil. »Luxury Problems« is looking for contrast and achieves it through the fusion of gasping drums, a blustering bass and the voice of Alison Skidmore. And it works every single time. The instrumentals are distinctive to Andy Stott: it’s the kind of industrial-techno that one would slaughter a sacrificial lamb to, the kind that we know belongs to the producer from Manchester. Everything grinds forwards, tortures itself. Clasps are dragging slimy traces along, drums and bass are stamping iron on metal. And still, the collaboration with Alison Skidmore, who used to be Stott’s piano-teacher, adds a new facet to his music. Whether it’s a whisper on »Numb«, the style of and opera-aria on »Lost and Found«, or echos and weirdo-pop on »Hatch The Plan« – it’s her who breathes new life into the beats. Of course, fans will have split opinions about the singer’s arrival. However, if you imagine »Luxury Problems« without her, it would remain a typical Stott-record: gloomy, in-your-face in the foreground, yet thoughtful in the hidden detail, but then again quite predictable when it comes to his loop-selection and his beats. If Andy Stott’s record was a building, it would have been built on mighty steel joists and massive concrete and then would be hammered into an industrial estate. The shimmering glass-parts, which would be nerving the colossal building – that would be Alison Skidmore’s contribution.
Luxury Problems
