Ellen Allien
Issue #36
SooL (BPitch Control)
By Amanda McCorquodale
Published: August 1st, 2008 | 10:31am
On Selmasongs, Björk exalted machines by singing “Clatter, crash, clack / Racket, bang, thump!” On SooL, Ellen Allien lets the machines do their own singing. The fourth solo album of Berlin-based DJ and producer Ellen Allien was recorded with the help of fellow Berlin-based artist AGF. Intentionally poised to challenge electronic music audiences’ idea of minimal, SooL is sparser than Allien’s previous albums.
Allien defines minimal as “shaping this kind of immediacy with my own hands.” The result is eleven hypnotic, pulsing tracks. Most have a muscular tightness where the silence between the beats contains just as much of the song.
SooL’s clattering layers of sound evoke visions of the inanimate becoming animate. Bolts break free and creaky gears are oiled into movement; it’s the Fanstasia of our industrialized age. But it’s not all about pistons and techno tweaks. On the track “Caress,” Allien’s repetitive whispers of “caress” soften the minimalism. On “Elphine,” her staccato and reverb vocals pulse like beats, pushing the listener forward into a web of high-pitched wails that sound like Chinese erhu music. “Zauber” stands out with a foreboding oboe melody that conjures up the childhood musical tale Peter and the Wolf. Toward the end of the album is “Frieda,” Allien’s version of a love ballad; here again she whispers, this time it’s “You are the sky/ You are my moon,” to a swell of orchestra strings.
Pitchfork has called Allien “the high priestess of techno” and rightly so. She started her own label (BPitch Control), designed a clothing line, and throws world-renowned parties. She’s even remixed Beck and Thom Yorke. SooL is perhaps too high on concept to win over new listeners, but for those already engaged with Ellen Allien’s sound — it's fun to hear her play. — Amanda McCorquodale
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