steve jansen never smiles behind the kit. in concert, he’s steady and serious, expressing himself implicitly in the texture, the precision, and the subtle wit of his music. with his new album, slope, a still tension underlies the crisp rhythms and intricate programming, while a collection of distinctive vocalists draw out the sentiment in his songwriting.
slope follows jansen’s critically celebrated endeavour nine horses, with brother and long-time collaborator david sylvian and electronica artist burnt friedman. as jansen explains, “with this album i approached composition attempting to avoid chord and song structures and the usual familiar building blocks. instead i wanted to piece together unrelated sounds, music samples, rhythms and ‘events’ in an attempt to deviate from my own trappings as a musician.” opener “grip” lays out the challenge: skittering beats propel an instrumental with fragments of voices, resonant metal percussion and breathy snatches of saxophonist theo travis. the main theme is quizzical: the rhythm is insistent and affecting, a click track with a conscience. disparate sounds attach to one another as like unpredictably finds like.