With his ninth album, Jeff McIlwain has achieved success as Luisine: »Long Light« oscillates between IDM, ambient and pop structures, working with loops and vocals in such a way that everything fits together perfectly. Everything is exactly where it should be to focus the rhythm. On »Zero to Sixty«, McIlwain weaves the vocals of US songwriter Sarah Jaffe into an experimental sonic construct, whose beat is so clearly structured that it sounds more like open air than art gallery. With all due precision. An electrically driven track like »Transonic« is immediately followed by the cinematic »Plateau« as the complete opposite, the open ambient noise being far more pleasing than the sound experiment. The great achievement of this album is that the American musician manages to avoid creating any shadows in his long light. Rather, despite all these different moments, his sound always retains rhythm as its driving force, and yet it is not a repetitive number, not a maelstrom, but a charming piece of music that courts and entices, but never forces. It is an album you can immerse yourself in or not as you please. You can listen to the details or enjoy »Long Light« as a soundtrack to the rest of your life. Casual would be a good word if it weren’t far too low-brow for this fine album. A rhythm that ticks according to its own clock. And no matter how you listen to it, it is fascinating.
Whatever The Weather
Whatever The Weather II
Ghostly International