gel sol – unifactor
May 10th, 2007 by rui
About two years ago I reviewed Gel-Sol’s first album, 1104, on these pages. It was love at first listen for me, and for most others who heard it. On that album Gel-Sol (aka Seattle based Andrew Reichel) combined elements of prog, dub, ambient and electronica with a considerable talent for production. He also released another album that year as part of 302 Acid who played a number of gigs, including an appearance at the Big Chill. So far so good, all systems go. It was em:t who released both albums, but sadly that label went to the big pressing plant in the sky (for the second time) about a year ago, leaving the follow-up, Unifactor, languishing on Reichel’s hard drive. Thankfully the Canadian label Upstairs Recordings have come to the rescue and given Unifactor a home. Which is good news, because it’s a great record.
Firstly, the artwork (also by Mr Reichel) is great: a sunlit vista of simple greens, reds and blues on one side of the inlay with the same scene, but bathed in moon and starlight, on the other. A great reminder of why I still prefer discs in shiny boxes to downloads. Secondly, the Gel-Sol musical formula still works. It hasn’t changed much, but then it didn’t need to, it probably offers enough possibilities for umpteen future long players. This is not run-of-the-mill electronic noodling, there’s love and sweat in equal measure in these compositions. As on 1104, the music moves from moments of blissful ambience to snapping electronic funk, and everything inbetween and beyond, with ease. Most tracks resist classification into ‘the ambient one’, ‘the dubby one’, ‘the dancefloor one’, each has an identity but can easily switch mood or pace, reflecting the different natures of gelatin (liquid) and solid from which the name gel-sol comes. Possibly a problem for the ‘category’ DJ, but a fantastic trip for anyone with patience to take the whole thing on in one go.
Standouts (so far) are the lovely ‘on a clear night you can see the answer’, the groovy ‘cool sweet awesome yay!’ (which I see is already colonising DJ setlists) and ‘saying goodbye is never easy’, the lush fellatiorama that is ‘slowjob’ which lures you in completely before (literally) sending in the clowns (you have been warned!) and the title track, which builds from slow sweeps of sound and shards of drums into the toughest sound he’s mustered to date.
In four words: Cool Sweet Awesome Yay!
Jez Wells
Unifactor by Gel-Sol is out now on Upstairs Recordings
