With Lateral, Mammo translates the scattered languages of his many aliases into a coherent long form. Across nearly 100 minutes, minimalist dub techno elements and bubbling electronica combine with ambient-tinged house to form a symbiosis of warm surfaces, crackling textures and wonderful dynamics.
Bright morning. Through noon and into the afternoon. Into dusk and the ink-black night. The 12 pieces can be read, by way of this self-description, in three chapters, but they convince above all as a complete work. The drifting opener »Intuitive – Portable – Easy to Use« already formulates this programme precisely: the beatless synths open a beautiful prologue, which slowly and organically unfolds across the album as a resonant space. »Vikare« then tilts this openness into a slowly striding dub house groove, whose warmth and lightness show, exemplarily, how Mammo generates movement without building pressure. At times the rhythms are playful and restless; at others, lush synthesiser surfaces take over – always touched by a hint of Basic Channel, Chain Reaction or even Shinichi Atobe.
Lateral brings with it a dramaturgy all its own, without any particular pieces pushing themselves to the foreground. In the end, what makes the album special is its patient unfolding, its tender depth, its richness of detail and its elegant interactions.
Lateral
