Slam - Human Response

Slam's fourth studio album grabs hold of electronica's ethereal qualities and harnesses them to slow-building techno: a process of intricate filling-in sews the spaces together with lingering melodies - No One Left To Follow being a case in point. The aim is to bring warmth and depth back to the 4/4 standard, through Detroitesque excursions and dubby soul. Looking North sees the melody simultaneously reach towards either end of the scale to find itself; and while the beat may establish it as techno, the melody screams I Am Electronica. We Medicate with Dot Allison focuses this vibe, but it's Reluctant Traveller that really gives away the album's unspoken influences. The 'synth-led expedition' consumes and reconditions these influences into something that Gary Numan was on the verge of for years. Why the next track, Azure, was picked to be the first single also becomes obvious - it succinctly captures the style and vibe of the entire album in a nine minute summary of development. We're Not Here takes away the haunting aspects in favour of disturbing hypnosis, while Memoir closes the LP with a slow ebb, like the last of the electricity draining out the synth lead. In all, it falls short of hitting something epic, but it doesn't have the pretension to assume it would: understated is the key word. [Struan Otter]