Luke Abbott

★★★★ Translate BORDER COMMUNITY. CD/DL/LP Norfolk synth magician navigates upheaval with striking results. BY LUKE ABBOTT’s own admission, the six years since his previous solo album were personally turbulent. Then, just as he was about to release this, his third album since 2010’s vivid debut

Holkham Drones, Covid happened. It may be late arriving, but Translate is, serendipitously, entirely in tune with today, while returning to the twisted, motorik grand sweep that characterised his early work. The heavily-distorted Our Scene is a tantalising exercise in build and decay, the gloriously portentous Flux a surge of storm-tossed heavy ARPs, while Earthship – like a slow yomp across tundra – is John Carpenter-like in breadth and mood. Every so often, Abbott weaves in foley recorded outside the west London studios of his mentor, James Holden. The chatter of children or car horns act as subtle reminders that whatever our personal vicissitudes, in the wider world, life trundles on. This is memorable music for exceptional times.