QUINOLINE YELLOW: Colour Index 47005 (Uchelfa Recordings)

QUINOLINE YELLOW
Colour Index 47005
UCHEL0047005
Uchelfa Recordings 2006


Uchelfa Recordings



Answering to the evocative E104 name and deemed 'not recommended for consumption by children', Quinoline Yellow is a synthetic greenish yellow dye used in the food industry. It is also the name adopted by London-based electronic artist Luke Williams, who has in the last few years released a series of critically acclaimed EPs on Skam and is own Uchelfa imprint. His debut album, Dol-Goy Assist, was released last year on Skam.

Quinoline Yellow's new EP, Colour Index 47005, named after the industrial reference of Quinoline Yellow, is the unapologetically electronic follow up to Dol-Goy Assist. In these times when most musicians desperately try to sound acoustic, it is refreshing to find such a rich collection of highly contrasted artificial soundscapes put to the service of stunning melodies and dense atmospheric tones. Williams is, alongside Bola's Darrell Fitton, amongst the most ardent protagonists of the pure synthesis approach, producing wonderfully warm and engaging electronic music in an all too rare fashion.

Right from the onset, Williams positions this latest collection in line with previous releases as he develops lush melodic themes and dresses them in ornate electronic swathes. In just six tracks, spanning a drop under thirty minutes, Williams creates a vibrant patchwork of expressive musical sequences which seem to borrow as much from the post industrial era embodied by the likes of Richard H Kirk, as they do from the digital age. Whether through the sluggish circumvolutions of Powys Quoits, the syncopated electro of Miniature Cockroach Cab (a track that surely deserves attention for its title alone), the vocal inserts of Carrageenan and Clos Pen Glin2, the blurred digitalia of The Wash Pool or the ethnic scope of Bob Brigham's Gold Chariot, which echoes Bel Canto's Look3, Williams eternally redefines the environment in which his compositions evolve while maintaining a constant atmosphere temperature all the way through. Elements appear to drift in and out of focus as melodies ebb and flow, and melodies themselves at times seem to dissolve, only to emerge later entirely intact, giving this EP a strong astral feel. Here, Williams is as versatile and interesting as ever, driving each composition to its fullest.

This latest offering from Quinoline Yellow is another classic instalment in Williams's growing body of work and provides a further insight into his uncompromising approach and vision.