Leitmotiv Limbo - Inferior State CS

With Inferior State, Adelaide-based artist Elijah Värttö doubles down on the intensive focus that made his previous album as Leitmotiv Limbo, Superior State (De La Catessen, 2023) such a compelling listen. Released by Servataguse Muusika, the label that Värttö developed out of past curated events in Estonia, Inferior State works as a sequel, of sorts, to that album, not just by way of title, but in its desire to drill down deeply into the DNA of Värttö’s sonic practices. And while he may be known to some as an instrument inventor – here, he works with ‘four built analogue electronic instruments’; other, earlier recordings have been developed from a sound palette painted by abstruse metallic constructions – Inferior State helps clarity Värttö’s primary voice, that of an improviser-composer.

The magic’s in the detail here, and the hypnotic insistence of pulsation. Each track on Inferior State builds from jerry-rigged electronic textures, many abraded and/or degraded, collecting around a thudding pulse that, like Superior State, recalls European minimal techno, or the kind of ‘blank minimalism’ of the likes of Asmus Tietchens. But there’s something rougher here, gruffer and more fibrous, perhaps, that makes me flash back to the tougher ends of 1980s industrial (all things being connected) – mysterious documents by early SPK, or RJF, or the fraying textures of the community that cohered around The New Blockaders.

The thread, the through-line? A muted sensuality in the touch of each piece, the way it feels very intimate in a strange way, as though you can achieve a one-on-one relationship with the sounds. It’s both distant and thrillingly close. - Jon Dale