the home current

its appears to be getting a regular thing of late with these occasional and infrequent reviews opening with some kind of apologetic greetings, but I guess it is what it is given all the background nonsense and the interference of every day life. Long overdue and yes, with apologies to Martin Jensen – better known to the Polytechnic Youth community and beyond as the Home Current. ‘Another way of falling apart’ is the PY release that nearly got away, in a pressing of 300 and no doubt long since sold out, though the savvy among you should be able to secure copies as your own by way of a spot of clever negotiating on those there online auction sites – which while in no way are we or indeed do we wish to endorse as such, we recommend you start your search with discogs. Anyhow enough of that, ‘another way of falling apart’ might well in years to come, provide the jewel in the Polytechnic Youth crown, why so and why not now you might ask. Well simply because some things come along a little ahead of their time, call it a restlessness in waiting for the chasing pack to catch up, there is of course the additional x factor quotient in so much as the amorphous alchemist that Jensen is seemingly able without fuss or warning to spirit with inexhaustible ease between a plethora of sound styles, often on paper at odds with each other and seamlessly dissolve and dispatch them into one universal translation so much so that amid this luxuriously platter elements of 90’s techno (where this album is principally rooted – there’s no denying the sonic fingerprints of Aphex, Autechre and Biosphere serve as primary engines here – a fact best evidenced by side one’s closing ‘The Devil Finds Things For Idle Minds To Dwell On’), cool club land cultures, vintage electronica, classic kosmische and more, freewheel with sleight of hand trickery. To get the measure of ‘another way of falling apart’ is to revisit a limited lathe / CD release put out by Static Caravan last year along with a collaborative cut posted on sound cloud which found him teamed up with Anna Brønsted on a track entitled ‘leave your fears’. Agreed, previous releases for polytechnic youth had hinted of an impish free spirited nature playfully trying to find a sonic skin that best suited, it was a journey that coalesced succinctly on that most memorable Static outing. Invested with warmth and a widescreen viewfinder, Jensen created a space of intimacy, minimalist at times steadfastly left field, yet al the same an inviting delicacy fused with Balearic washes and empowered by an all seeing melodic mindset of a prime era Plaid (a fact echoed by the appearance of ‘the fossil sunset’ on this gathering). Here, on ‘Another Way…. ‘ that same creative canvas comes to the fore only realized with a growing sense of confidence, awareness and familiarity with his new found sonic skin. Equally adept and at home cooking svelte down tempo raptures and noir smoked nocturnal love notes, amid these grooves an alluring odyssey of sound breathes, shape shifting between moments of soft strobing yearn (‘fellow sleepers’ – whereupon Martin Home Current ably adopts a kind of shadowy night cruising persona to Free School – a collective to whom it appears he shares a strong sonic kinship – perhaps best evidenced on ‘you were right about the stars’ which manages cleverly to invest elements of the much missed Magnetaphone) to a version x industrial rumble as found on the opening ‘a gathering silence’ which distils the prime elements of Front 242’s DNA and rehouses them into a mutant Kreidler / Tarwater aural automaton. That said Vangelis is never far away in the Home Current melodic matrix, picking away at the lighter moments from the classic ‘blade runner’ soundtrack and at various stop overs offering a ride to a pre-tranced hitchhiking KLF. In short, a deceptively alluring full length which rewards and gives up a different secret with each further listen, best moment of the set, the softly stateless wonder of ‘yesterday’s ghost’ with its subtle peppering of hope blisters.