Chemlab's Jared Louche has obviously changed with age, never once invoking the swaggering persona of his former heavy outfit.  Instead, we get cryptic ritualistic imagery in carefully chosen wording and enunciation, albeit still in his classic sickly Bauhaus-esque cadence on most occasions.  I'd heard hints of this emerging in his work before, such as in the spoken poetry in the outro of their "East Side Militia" album, or the cover of "In Every Dream Home, a Heart Ache", from his 2004 "Cover Girl" album, released as Jared Louche.  "Another letter came through the slot today", he speaks in a rattling whisper on the first track, "Shadowlands", and generally keeps to the desolate, windswept feeling you would expect from this title.

The raspy snarl in which he speaks on "Black Dog (inside the hound)", occasionally with an almost country accent, is pure Tom Waits, and by extension also recalls Mike Patton's newer music with Faith No More and Tomahawk, which has incorporated this kind of husky, ominous voice heavily as well.  He speaks mostly in warning, and potently describes disorientation, hopelessness and lack of energy.  With phrases such as "Mirrors don't seem to recognize your face" and "Sleep all day with the covers pulled above your head / Another day is done long before it begins" this album is one that may clash with an upbeat mood, but will sound perfectly comforting in the right moment of vulnerability.

"Hazmat" brings us more spoken poetry from Jared, reminding me of the beat poet musings and coffee shop breakbeats of Pigface's 1997 "A New High In Low" album, a lesser known album of the band that exemplified the perhaps unexpected psychedelic and new age influences that had emerged within many players of the original industrial scene by way of the more hedonistic and euphoric rave scene, from Genesis P-Orridge to Coil and Cabaret Voltaire.  Jared Louche has evidently had similar transformations of his own, preaching equilibrium and acceptance in the face of fate with surprisingly straightforwardness in the psych rock ballad "Tail Light Fading", speaking in spiritual terms of 'the river' of existence as he never has in the past.  That said, some healthy cynicism remains evident in lines such "No wonder they believe in the simplicity of higher powers", and there is a generally tired, weary tone to many of his phrasings.

The cold, kinky industrial / new wave of "Showtime" is sung by an uncredited vocalist.  "A-Rex", presumably a producer, is the only other unrecognized name in the album credits.  Perhaps producer A-Rex has contributed the vocals as well?  This track brings a druggy swagger that reminds me of Thighpaulsandra's boldly odd yet 'cock rocky' solo albums, and ubiquitous 80's influences like Depeche Mode, particularly the sleek darkwave of "Violator" and "Black Celebration".  Tracks such as "Safe House" also feature the same vocalist in sparse amounts, but list no 'featured' singers.

The beats in the background of most tracks are not especially gritty or distorted, nor are they dense.  Largely, they revolve around organic feeling breakbeats, tribal-esque percussive accents and modern synthetic 808 kicks which all fit comfortably within trip hop or the ethnic downtempo scene ('psychill' or 'sacred bass').  They would sound somewhat bland to my ears if not for the charisma of the various vocalists, who establish a somber gothic tone that would not otherwise be brought to mind by these instrumentals.  It is undoubtedly the vocalists that carry the recording, and in some instances the clean, digital simplicity of the beats seems at odds with them.  Generally, they fit better with the smooth, melodic tones of the female singers (Jenny Bellestar and Sapphira Vee, who appear once each), and not as well with Jared's rougher voice.  Massive Attack, for example, resolves this issue with a bit of analog/hardware texture on their beats, which are produced with a great deal of depth, and a general cloudy density of atmosphere.  Here's hoping for a denser, darker production for Dogtablet next time around.

The feeling I get hearing Dogtablet's debut brings me back to an era of more frequent and experimental darkwave recordings in the 80's and 90's.  It's not without flaws, but makes up for it with passion and experimentalism, and perhaps its various pieces will congeal more perfectly into a whole as time passes.  I look forward to more meaningful and replayable recordings such as this one