Washington State-based producer Andrew Reichel’s debut as Gel-Sol was originally released as a series of web downloads, and the rather clinically-titled ‘1104’ collects together all these previously-released tracks on what is UK imprint Emit’s first solo artist album since relaunching after a long hiatus. Emit were one of the seminal ambient labels in the early 90s releasing classics such as Woob before disappearing. With a focus on sweeping electronic dubscapes and downtempo beats that calls to mind ‘Ultraworld’-period Orb and FSOL in their late-nineties heyday (think sampled TV evangelists and gameshow hosts), Reichel certainly isn’t breaking any boundaries here, but track titles like Schwein Kuchen (German for ‘pork cake’) indicate po-faced ambient exploration is probably not his main intention. Most importantly, it’s the attention to detail here and elements of underlying Eno-esque darkness that set ‘1104’ a cut above many similar ‘chill out / downtempo’ efforts. If you’re slightly nonplussed by what the good Dr. Alex Patterson has to offer these days, you should definitely investigate Gel-Sol.
Chris Downton
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