In spite of an active musical career spanning 25 years, from what I can discover this is only Lake Lustre’s third full album release (and one of those being an extremely limited edition). Joe A Scerri has continent hopped in that time, switching from his native England to Australia and now to Switzerland and has a trail of friends and collaborators which is both varied and strong. These influences and travels all make their way out in some form on Mountain Math.
Mountain Math is founded on jittery electronics which at times swarm in atmosphere and at others swing propulsively. There are hints of Syd Barrett or even early Brian Eno pastoralism in tracks such as ‘(I Am An) Inland Sea’ and ‘Brick Beauty Drive’, where acoustic plaintiveness is offset by micro-edits and swirling ambience. A series of particularly strong, evocative female voices is also utilised – Peta Morris, Inga Liljestrom and Dorit Chrysler inhabit tracks such as ‘Cirrus’, ‘Good Day’s Damage’ and ‘Eyelid Flytrap’ in haunting fashions. Scerri is just as adept at holding attention in purely instrumental mode as well and these tracks are often the more uptempo ones. ‘Forever Young In Eye’ places vaguely nostalgic analog synth tones into a robust IDM rhythmic context and ‘Little Battles’ lifts the tempo while simultaneously pulling against that through the use of minor key droning and muted sonics. ‘Punktuation’ is slightly incongruous towards the end of the album in its relative light heartedness, but it’s funky 8-bit groove is completely endearing, while ‘How Far Is Near’ is blissfully sunwashed euphoria with woozy synth washes, a perfect coda which gives you a sense of having travelled through the album’s moods and arrived at the desired destination.
Mountain Math is a continually exploratory album. No sound is left to its own devices for very long as Scerri makes his kaleidoscope shift at every moment creating a dazzling array of movement. There is a sonic kinship with other Sydney based producers such as Karoshi and Broken Chip in the ability to create blissful atmospheres which draw attention to tiny details. And while Lake Lustre is now based in Europe, his sound (probably enhanced by his list of Antipodean collaborators) finds me making constant connections with similar work I enjoy from Australia. Math Mountain is a layered work reflective of the time and attention with which Scerri creates and repeated listening makes way for a deeper engagement which is highly rewarding.
Adrian Elmer
*
