Over their two preceding albums the ongoing collaboration between Modeselektor’s Sebastian Szary and Gernot Bronsert, and Apparat’s Sascha Ring as Moderat has developed into such a cohesive fusion that it’s hard to believe that their initial attempts at working together apparently ended in somewhat fraught circumstances. To a large extent, it’s a result of what each party brings to the table managing to contrast and complement the other simultaneously – Modeselektor’s more visceral bass bounce colliding smoothly with Apparat’s more delicate pop and minimal techno elements. Three years on from its predecessor this third album from Moderat ‘III’ (apparently the final chapter in a trilogy) sees the trio continuing to refine and develop their lush post-IDM pop and minimal techno explorations, rather than offering up any really unexpected directions.
To an extent this is also a considerably more smooth listen than Moderat’s preceding collections, and rather than enlisting any guest contributors it’s Ring’s show here, with his soulful pop vocals taking the spotlight alongside the trio’s characteristically spectacular sound design. Opening track ‘Eating Hooks’ sees murmuring ambient tones slowly fading into view before a clicking woodblock percussion groove locks in alongside Ring’s airy languid soul vocal, the smooth fusion of frictionless motion, prowling sub-bass and shimmering post-IDM synths calling to mind a slightly chillier take on James Blake as brittle-sounding arpeggios fill up the foreground towards the end. ‘Running’ meanwhile offers up the obvious floorfiller here as surging tech-house grooves and jittery synth pulses power beneath Ring’s dance pop vocals and dubbed out handclaps.
Elsewhere, first single ‘Reminder’ sees his falsetto vocals evoking echoes of Thom Yorke at points against the sorts of broken rhythms that wouldn’t have been out of place on his recent ‘Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes’ release, before a majestic forest of synth arrangements and intricate breakbeat layering rises up to create what’s easily one of this album’s most spellbinding offerings. It’s only with ‘Intruder’ that the sense of tension lurking beneath the smooth veneer really breaks through to the surface here, as an atmospheric opening section that sees Ring’s treated and looped vocal harmonies intersecting with refracted synth textures suddenly gives way to grinding DSP-contorted breakbeats and snapping snare attack, albeit briefly. While there are few real surprises in store here, Moderat’s sense of gorgeously intricate sound design and simultaneous attention to both fine detail and the bigger picture makes ‘II’ such a characteristically delicious listen.
