From the opening metronome click of "Gone," it is readily apparent that with
Norken, producer Lee Norris has eschewed the dancefloor propulsion of his
Metamatics guise for something entirely more subtle, though he is still working with the same pristine analog sound palette.
Soul Static Bureau feels the same machine emotions as the best Detroit techno, and comparisons to
Carl Craig and
Kenny Larkin are easy, though not unjustified. From the lush synths and mellow handclaps on "Southern Soul" to the jittery hi-hat on "The Visit," it is not hard to mistake this record as coming from the 313. But Norris does more than just copy. The drumless "Fragile" moves along only at the urging of microscopic acid bleeps while "Motor Breeze" finds itself in a tropical house environment, though amazingly it never resorts to any of the usual southern sounds or rhythms. Too interesting to go unnoticed, yet way too chilled for any motor activity,
Soul Static Bureau is a place of purgatory where you concentrate wholly on the music. ~ Joshua Glazer