Coming from the studio-meets-live experimentation of Chicago's post-rock scene, Shawn King and Nate Flannigan are eager members of a new guard of experimental musicians operating in the electronic field, yet eschewing purely digital sound generation in favor of an organic mix of laptop quarks and roots instrumentals. Their resulting debut album for Plug Research plays out as if the ghost of
Ry Cooder had taken up residence in the duo's Mac computer. "How Do You Feel?" strums languidly along to a glitchy rhythm before building into a light honky tonk piano refrain, while "Born Female" centers around a mourning violin melody. The glitches dominate other selections such as "Games Mother Never Taught You" and "Daddy's Girl, Mama's Boy," but the down-home flavor never leaves these compositions. Though mostly a dour affair, the opener, "What Do You Say After Hello???," jumps with swinging jazz percussion that marks the only urban sensation found on this disc, making it a false introduction to the remainder of the album.
Soulo gives laptop techno a farmer's tan, and in doing so, stands alongside artists like indie electronic maverick
Dntel and found sound explorationist
Matmos when pushing the boundaries of what organic textures the synthetically attuned ear will accept. ~ Joshua Glazer