- Is music intrinsically gendered in essence, or is it made masculine or feminine through various inscriptions inside and outside the music itself? Even if you have never heard of Clara Moto before, looking at the artwork of Polyamour will suggest who is behind the moniker: From the hand drawings of exotic birds, cute little trees, cute little lakes and cute little girls to the vaguely romantic title and the pastel blue fonts, it is quite clear, as cliche as it sounds, we are being treated with music enhanced by a woman's touch.
Being from Austria means Moto's brand of soft, feminine techno isn't strongly defined by the various imperatives of the neighboring German or French electronic scenes. In that sense, she seems to operate on her own terms and drawing her own lineage, blending delicately upbeat tracks with more abstract, beat-less ambiences. That said, you can hear schaffel influences on the sparse but more dance floor-friendly cuts: "Take a Second" has a Jurgen Paape feel, as so does "Alma," but with added Plaid-like prismatic bleeps toward the end. These might sound a bit academic to the trained ears, but they are produced with intricate poise.
When her sound isn't being determined by dance floor diktats, it sometimes falls into strict IDM territories. "Goodbye Twilight," for instance, is an ambient piece that explores the fragile tension between field recordings and a tenuous, even diaphanous melody while "Joy of My Heart," with its echoing piano, wouldn't sound out of place next to Aphex Twin's more serene moments on Drukqs. Album closer "The Opposite Is Also Wrong," on the other hand, is a two-minute blurb that sounds like a depressed version of Plone with a malfunctioning MIDI controller: It's cute, but probably too twee to make a lasting impression.
Clara Moto produces the kind of wide-ranging stuff once called "female electronic" that reminds of Warp IDM starlettes such as Leila or Mira Calix and, on a few rare occasions, the fist-pumping stamina of Berlinettes Ellen Allien or Anja Schneider. But covering such a large ground is a daunting task, which also means Polyamour, more often than not, awkwardly falls right in the middle of a nowhere-like no (wo)man's land.
Tracklist01. Emory Bortz
02. Alma
03. Deer & Fox
04. Glove Affair
05. Song of Exhaustion
06. Goodnight Twilight
07. Joy of My Heart
08. Three Seconds
09. Silently
10. Take a Second
11. The Opposite Is Also Wrong