As “When Can” commences, with the distant horn and dark orchestral sweep of a noir feature slipping elegantly into seductive whispers and tropical exotica, the curtains have parted on a widescreen cinematic Utopia. Which is hardly what you would expect from the cover art, depicting a stormy brown landscape whose only features are nuclear cooling towers and construction cranes.
Kettel and Secede are mainstays of the colourful Sending Orbs label, dormant the past two years, and have apparently been planning a full-length collaboration ever since 2005. That year, Lennard van der Last released “Tryshasla” as Secede, a gigantic mural of a work and huge favourite among the ambient listening community. As Kettel, Reimer Elsing´s melodic “Through Friendly Waters” followed shortly thereafter, bursting with energy and imagination.
´Admittance´ blends a martial snare and chanting monks with a pizzicato cascade. Renaissance toy soldier troops set off marching into ´Pentimento´ only to sashay like powdered dandies when suddenly transported to a cocoanut grove in the South Pacific. This is how “When Can” sways, back and forth between the moon just peeking from behind the clouds and the tropical moon waxing huge over warm sand and surf. ´Deliria Noon´ is paradise achieved by just lying back and soaking it in. The lonely bluesman sampled in ´Full Moon´ emotes incongruously out of the midst of a toytronic orchestra. The long, fond farewell of ´Canned Forever´ is preceded by the sunny send-off ´Grand Can,´ a tune just crying out for lyrics.
On paper, little of that sounds like it would hold together coherently, but Kettel and Secede are irresistably entertaining, playful and utterly unconcerned with anything resembling trend or genre, resulting in a pop electronica that is guileless and twinkly while remaining deep with artistry and story.
Stephen Fruitman
