Greek sound artist Maria Papadomanolaki certainly has a busy work schedule; as well as having her sound installations (centred around field recordings, voice and telematic performance) exhibited through the UK and Greece, she also composes for dance and video alongside working for London’s Resonance FM. This debut EP as Dalot sees Papadomanolaki crafting six tracks that veer decidedly towards ambient and post-IDM electronic landscapes, with the introduction of gentle guitar elements lending proceedings an almost post-rock feel at points here. ‘Sunflight’s opens things on a blissful ambient note, with the distant throb of field recorded wind and traffic slowly bleeding into ringing harmonic drones, before gentle guitar strokes lift their heads out of the surrounding murk and forlorn-sounding synth chords lurk at the very edges of the mix. By comparison, ‘Above The Rooftops’ sees a minimalist techno pulse working its way towards the foreground as treated and pitchshifted guitar strokes billow like smoke around the crackling rhythms, before ‘Eyeburn’ places the feathery melodic guitar strokes at the track’s very centre, anchoring wide-eyed sounding keys and organ tones with a sharp-focus backbone of clicking hiphop-centred beats. There’s also a distinct shoegazer feel to ‘Rewind’ with its blurred-out backdrop of seagulls, distant police sirens and radio chatter addingly a palpably dark undertone to the slow guitar chords that roll slowly above. A tastefully understated debut from Dalot that’s best enjoyed late at night.
Chris Downton
