Jason Calhoun - tolstoy tatsoi/at home (Dear Life) [Electronic Music]

Jason Calhoun is a Philadelphia resident and a keen collaborator in various projects, who is also happy hunkered down in his home studio surrounded by glowing machines, which has resulted in him developing a nice line in leftfield electronic music. He's been releasing through all the right, often TSMM-approved labels, including Dear Life - keepers of the excellent Weirs album, who are enabling his forthcoming album, Revelations of Divine Love.

The first two singles from the summer album are now out and giving us our first taste of what's to come, and the omens are good. "tolstoy tatsoi" gets the ball rolling with a throwback minimal house 4/4 kick that has echoed through time, losing some of its thud along the way. Just as you're about to jump out of your chair like its 2009 all over again, it's then accompanied by some oddly soothing, gently playful,half timing tones and tangential glitchiness that defies the call to the floor and puts you back on the sofa to dream of kooky platform games. And then, all too soon, it's gone.

"at home" is a more sedate affair, with the unhurriedly shapeshifting synth pads augmented by the rustle of things, the creaking of old wood and the distant sounds of traffic noise through a slightly ajar studio window. The track then starts to glitch, breathe, twinkle and squawk into life, the disparate sounds finding unity in their singularity, joy in their diversity and offering good-natured comfort to the listener in return.

The tracks are short and sweet, and probably best surrounded by album colleagues, but it's an enticing teaser of what's sure to be an intriguing album coming your way on August 7th.

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Playlist Companion

Find Calhoun in the Slowtronic Playlist.