Beyond the Wizards Sleeve: The Soft Bounce (Phantasy) Review

Beyond the Wizards Sleeve

The Soft Bounce

Phantasy

Jul 18, 2016 Web Exclusive By Hays Davis

The liner notes refer to The Soft Bounce as “a trip album in the wildest sense.” With that in mind, expect this string of tunes from electronic duo Erol Alkan and Richard Norris to provide a change of scenery around every corner.

The Soft Bounce is more about variation than mind-warping, though that doesn’t mean there aren’t moments of fringe-frolicking. As guest Jon Savage states in his disorienting monologue under a swarm of backward recordings on the quite trippy “Third Mynd,” “This is how one ought to see.”

When building-crumbling electric guitar suddenly smashes through on “Iron Age,” nature shifts abruptly from a Beck-ian pop undertow to a Category 4 situation. Elsewhere, more guest turns including Euro Childs (of Gorki’s Zygotic Mynci), Jane Weaver, and Hannah Peel generate bright spots throughout the record. And after the epic “Tomorrow, Forever” plays like a seven-minute end-of-days soundtrack at the album’s center, the only way to go is everywhere. (www.facebook.com/beyondthewizardssleeve)

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