Stevens is more known in Belgium under his Acid Kirk alias, but he took up the Syncopated elevators legacy moniker more than 5 years ago. On Still between the battle and the sheet, Stevens got a little help from quite a few guests on instruments such as trumpet, drumsguitars, keys but also marbles ina  box (!), dirty dishes (!!) and sleeping vibes (!!!).

Apparently, the guests improvised and Stevens played around with the result, with the modular frequencies. And this gives very different results from one track to the other. On the first one, Disguised telescopes on their way to Planet Bottle, the instruments are quite audible and seems only altered by little digital manipulations here and there. And these “interventions” are always on point, creating a great track of clever electronica mixed with free-jazzyness. La cabese rellena is something else... It opens with an acoustic guitar enduring crude mistreatments before white noise, echo and feedback do the talking. It might be the sound of a plane high above in the sky, surrounded not by air but by a thick fog of mystique and mysterious vibes. “Saccharin, Mr Downland” is more traditional, with its digitally-sliced melodies and lots of microsounds. Galusi is a long feedback, at first with a single song sustained for a couple of minutes, and then a gradual “enhancement” of the melodic range (if that makes any sense). In a way, this a very dreamy track, with a “vaporous” vibe.

SEL has given us a great mini album, original and varied. It is released on Ambivalence, a very promising Belgian label.

This album is available through Aim Distribution.