Genre: industrial techno, brit-no, experimental electronic

A giant of the modern electronic world, Manchester-native Andy Stott is back in business. Stripping back some of his heavier and vocal led arrangements from the last two albums (courtesy of the wonderful voice of Alison Skidmore), “Too Many Voices” plays with familiar drum machine and synth sound palettes. Perhaps a little more generic than his earlier material, but still chock full of amazing songwriting and sound design. Highly recommended.

Favorites: 9, 3, 7, 6, 5, 2, 1. No FCCs.

Others: Oneohtrix Point Never, Millie and Andrea, Container, Arca, Actress

1. (2:41) * Waiting For You - Meditative, eerie vocal pads. Collage-like style similar to Oneohtrix Point Never (but less hectic). Builds into a more predictable rhythm. Topped by some sharp synths. Cool. Moody. Ends cold.
2. (4:23) ** Butterflies - Tentative drum machine phrase. Lovely chorus-effected synths hover in the mix. Apathetic/erotic male vocals. Andy Stott make out music?
3. (5:40) **** New Romantic - Ghostly sustained backdrop. A mammoth, crunchy beat emerges. Atmospheric female vocals enthrall you. Really catchy little synth hook. Long story short, I adore this track.
4. (5:45) First Night - High pitched psychological thriller tones. Simple male vocal sample repeats. Picks up a warped, exploratory feel. Some cool bass textures later on but a little short on ideas in general.
5. (5:47) ** Forgotten - Faint, loping drum machine beat. Gets spacey…then a more cleanly defined beat comes to the fore. Has the feel of speeding up and slowing down (although the tempo doesn’t change). Cool echoey vocals.
6. (4:34) *** Selfish - The stark jungle/grime jam of the album. Just some filthy dirty drum sounds. Soft vocal sample floats around the beat. Awesome fooling around with 808 drum machine in the second half…almost upbeat/poppy
7. (6:16) **** On My Mind - Wandering, moaning ambient. Sweet sort of tribal-electro beat. Gorgeous synth chime. Mid-tempo and contemplative. Ends cold at 6:10.
8. (5:04) Repetitive drum phrase. Barren voices. Goes nowhere in 5 minutes…
9. (6:07) ***** Too Many Voices - Yes hell yes Andy. Tender female vox. Then suddenly a blast of Kate Bush-esque backing vocals. Totally carried by this simple arrangement but absolutely emotive and wonderful and creative. Very different feel from the rest of the album but what an amazing final track. Big favorite.