- Adventurous ambient techno from Luke Slater's resurrected '90s alias.
- In recent years, Luke Slater's The 7th Plain alias has acquired new relevance. The rise in appreciation for ambient techno of the early '90s, from B12's Time Tourist to Move D's Kunststoff, has eased the way for a reappraisal of Slater's ambient work, which he released on General Production Recordings between 1993 and 1995. The Ostgut Ton sub-label A-Ton launched in 2016 with Chronicles I, the first in a trilogy of compilations of remastered music from The 7th Plain. Now, the label has released the remaining two sets, Chronicles II and Chronicles III.
It's easy to be lulled into the chilly fog that cloaks much of Slater's music as The 7th Plain. The shimmering techno jazz of "Silver Shinhook" opens Chronicles II in a weightless, heavy-lidded haze that lingers over the kick drum-powered tracks that follow. By contrast, Convex" is defined by brittle, metallic drums, punchy stabs and nagging acid lines, though the lighter footfall to the rhythm and a liberal dose of misty chords temper its agitated mood.
These spikes in energy also avoid a common pitfall in ambient techno, in which tracks tend to melt into the background. Sometimes that's the whole point—the chill-out room culture of the '90s with which this music aligns was as much about socialising as it was about attentive listening. But "JDC" tests the limits of The 7th Plain's billing as ambient. Its hyped-up, modulating zaps and sharp claps might unsettle anyone expecting something calm and nurturing.
The 7th Plain works best when Slater brings together these experimental instincts with his resplendent melodies. "Lost," a highlight from The 4 Cornered Room, surges with drums that strain under a blanket of hi-hats that sound like a particularly savage rain shower. When such feisty programming is paired with vast, bombastic slabs of orchestral synth, the results are spellbinding. Is it too intense for the fragile ecosystem of the afters? Maybe. But these untamed qualities are precisely what gives the music such vitality.
トラックリストChronicles II
01. Silver Shinhook
02. Astra Naut-E
03. Wand Star
04. Convex
05. I Think I Think Too Much
06. JDC
07. To Be Surreal
08. Big Field
Chronicles III
01. Time Melts
02. Reality Of Space
03. Excalibur's Radar
04. Millentum
05. Lost
06. Think City
07. Shades Amaze
08. Seeing Sense