Broadcast & the Focus Group: Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age

Label: Warp

Across the almost 50 minutes and 23 tracks of this experimental “mini-album,” Birmingham’s suave mod-futurists Broadcast trade snippety notions with longtime album artist and Ghost Box Music founder Julian House (aka the Focus Group). As swirls of instrumental samples ebb and shift, the deadpan, singsong vocals of Broadcast’s Trish Keenan chime in sporadically, like distance markers along a dark, circuitous path. Though the album seems to lack any overlying structure, its music maintains a consistently ominous tone, echoing through itself as if through the chambers of an underground catacomb. Something to keep handy to soundtrack the wallflower room at your next Halloween party, or maybe as the inspiration for your latest experimental/occult film. (Abby)