
Swod - Sekunden [City Center Offiices - 2007]This is Swod’s secound album that brings together melodic and emotional piano playing with subtle electronic elements, bass and percussion- all into quite a unique, refreshing and beautiful manner. Most of the tracks are based around similar principle; elegantly played and melodious piano enters, then slowly the duo build around the paino subtle and skeletal collection of minimalist electronic traces, accomplished & often funky edged bass playing,old black and white foreign film samples and a mix of organic & electronic drum work. It always keeps the piano as centre focus of the work never letting it lose it’s pretty and emotional voice or get drowned out by other sounds. In a way this is one slight problem with the album as you know what to expect- there a few detours to try other things but there’s very little surprising once you know the formal. But please don’t let that put you off as I’ve found myself regularly playing and very much enjoying this and I’m sure I’ll keep returning to it again as it does have quite a timeless quality in both melodies and soundworld. A rather different and refreshed take on the whole electronic meets organic genre- that keeps the music feeling more organic than electronic. The album certainly offers up memorable and emotional charged collection of tracks, one just wonders where they can take their sound next time round.      Roger Batty
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