Although Austrian leftfield electronic outfit The Smiling Buddhas (curiously, also the name given to India’s first atomic bomb tests) have been in existence for around a decade, this album on Base ‘Lo’ represents their debut longplayer, something that’s been the result of lineup shuffles in recent years. Originally a duo, co-founder John Fitzpatrick relocated to Hong Kong a few years back, leaving him and collaborator Nepal Hun to continue the project as a ‘mail art project’s with different vocalists on stage. This set-up proving unsatisfactory for both parties, Fitzpatrick then subsequently quit the band, leaving Hun to focus on The Smiling Buddhas as a solo project. As the sleeve art suggests, ‘Lo’ aims to act as a sonic travelogue, in this case to the hidden kingdom of Mustang in Mongolia, something that track titles such as ‘Dizzy In High Altitude’ and ‘Muktinath’ confirm further.
While the initial opening tracks ‘Into The Gorge’ and ‘Rio Gandaki’ suggest at first a voyage out into wide-eyed ambience, with lush, minimalist synth tones ringing out over a backdrop of drones, as things progress further, beats and rhythmic elements begin to rise out of the haze; something hinted at by the former’s Plaid-esque slide into tumbling synth melodics and electro rhythms at one point. ‘Dizzy In High Altitude’ even sees things accelerating into buzzing electro-house, although it proves to be something of an atypical moment here, with ‘Up, Up, Slowly, Slowly’s crawling midtempo fusion of massed Asian percussion, crisply programmed dub snares and crunching, near-hiphop beats proving to be more indicative of the sort of rhythmic flex going on here (descent into hammering gamelan-style section and all). Indeed, it’s the exotic and unfamiliar elements introduced along with the battery of Asian rhythmic instrumentation that often introduces the biggest intrigue factor, something captured beautifully by ‘End Of Kora’s closing segue constructed around pitch-manipulated tones struck from ceremonial bells and bowls. While the rapid jumps between styles may confuse some listeners at first, ‘Lo’ is an album that definitely repays repeated listening.
