Elisa Luu & Markus Mehr
Two new albums in the last month or so have featured prominently on the show, both on the great Hidden Shoal label, one Italian, one German, and both inhabiting the broad terrain of instrumental ambient electronica. Elisa Luu's Un giorno sospeso ("a suspended day" or "one day suspension", depending on your translator) is a beautiful album of drifting, teasing textures. "Suspended" might be a good word to describe the kind of head-over-heels dizziness it could induce in you. It has more of a homely feel compared to her last (first) album, Chromatic sigh , which had quite an exotic, spacey atmosphere. Like me, you might find it hard to get past the first two tracks - the gentle twinkling bleep of 'Flussigirl', with flute samples set in a bed of friendly static; and 'Se fosse per me', a glorious tune that rides on a wave of treated fuzz guitar samples, with a warm electric piano for company. It also features a beguiling saxophon...