Furlines is
Tennis' follow-up to 2001's
Europe on Horseback. This association between
Ben Edwards (aka
Benge) and Douglas Benford (aka
si-cut.db) produces some very fine fruits, drawing from both artists' fortes: solid glitch grooves and a certain lightness or studied carelessness in the arrangements that makes the music easier to listen to than what you'd expect at first. The palette of textures explored on this disc remains somewhat limited, but there is enough variety between the tracks to justify the decent 50-minute length. "Otter Story" uses a light dub backdrop reminiscent of
Komet, while the other cuts take a glitch/IDM path that brings to mind
Kim Cascone's lighter material and Benford's solo music. The elegant "Vole Shapes" stands out. The album comes with a bonus second CD, "The Horseback Mixes." Fifteen artists of the likes of
Taylor Deupree,
Cascone,
Frank Bretschneider,
Pimmon,
Bovine Life,
Cray, and
Tim Hecker contribute remodeled versions of tracks off of
Tennis' first opus. They all valued a strong personal input, enough to ensure that four remixes of "Self-Seal Mishap" don't feel excessive. ~ François Couture