- After several aliases and stylistic overhauls, Wanda Group and Ssaliva have reunited for a release on Woetone, a murky sub-label of Svetlana Industries. What's immediately striking is how far both have progressed since each contributed a track to the debut release from Belgian imprint Vlek in 2010—and in what different directions. Ssaliva's three tracks range from starry ambient (the opening of "Fantasy 33") to straight up hypnagogic pop ("Arcadia," with its cloudy drums and crystalline synth lead), but never stray far from a kind of 80s referentialism that feels a tad familiar. Sure, there are very fine moments—"Die Gem"'s synth figures weave through its hypnotic bassline with a choreographed grace borrowed from Philip Glass—but it all feels just a little too easy.
Wanda Group's offering, the lengthy "COMMENCEMENT ON SLAVERY WITH A GENDER PERSPECTIVE," is a far more unsettling proposition. We're quickly immersed in a succession of vivid swatches of material: flickering, suspenseful clouds of sonic atoms; plangent synth tones; pitched-down vocals mumbling at the edge of hearing. Field recordings recur, as if to place us in some kind of corporeal narrative, though precisely where me might be and why is anybody's guess. Wanda's music may not make for an altogether comforting listen, but sometimes faintly obscure questions are preferable to over-familiar answers.
TracklistA1 Fantasy 33
A2 Arcadia
A3 Die Gem
B Commencement On Slavery With A Gender Perspective