Lucky Cat - ISAN (Ryan's Take)

Lucky Cat

ISAN
Morr Music Records.

SCQ Rating: 74%

One of the best examples of Morr’s early dedication to and expansion of instrumental home-listening electronica, ISAN are the duo of Robin Saville and Antony Ryan, who offer a unique take on the genre by working exclusively with analog instruments. By using analog synthesizers and home-made percussion, ISAN craft delicate shades of micro electronica without going electronic at all. Using an idea made famous by the Postal Service, Saville and Ryan create their music continentally (they’ve never lived in the same European country) and trade ideas and drafts of songs through the internet.

The results are often superb. ‘Fueled’ is an eerie soundtrack to late winter evenings, tense yet somehow chilled-out. ‘Scraph’ momentarily breaks expectations with a lively break-beat, filled out by minor key melodies that resemble a less-ambitious Boards of Canada track. The majority, however, fit well to Lucky Cat’s cover-art: cuddly and cute. ‘Cutlery Favours’ is an opener that disguises nothing; an enjoyably honest and adorable track of subtle synth-shifts and old-world whirls that forecasts the rest of these tracks accurately.

Although Lucky Cat is certainly cohesive, its low-key intentions begin to wear thin and, at the very least, borders on being too isolating for regular rotation. This is a rare take on Morr Music’s early sound; replete with all the melody and loveliness of their trademark’s reputation, but crafted entirely without the instruments its genre relies on. A soft record for those hours you need company but only the kind that neither screams out nor expects a response.

Lucky Cat - ISAN (Yusif's Take)

Lucky Cat

ISAN
Morr Music.

SCQ Rating: 65%

If Boards of Canada made an ambient record, it might very well sound like Lucky Cat. Because they wouldn’t be able to discard beats altogether, it would feature dreamy, minimal loops, and their defective melodies would be thinned to their barest. Of course, the comparison doesn’t really fit but it’s a compliment for Isan, a duo who’ve warranted such resemblances without even using electronic instruments. A consistent mood piece of clicks and twee sensibilities glossed in the now classic Morr sound, Lucky Cat is composed entirely of analogue instruments (glockenspiels, archaic tape loops, and old synths) that tiptoe innocently from your speakers.

If it all sounds and appears too precious, that’s because it often is. ‘Cutlery Favours’ is the aural equivalent of watching cats sleep for nearly six minutes. Like that stationary opener, much of Lucky Cat prefers to remain dormant or at least stretching out in bed, which is ideal for anyone needing a record for lazy Sunday mornings. Although songs like ‘Kittenplan A’ are simple exercises in repetition, Antony Ryan and Robin Saville base them around tunes that are muscular enough to shift and entice minute after minute, and many become imbedded between the listener’s ears. How they write a melody that so easily gets stuck in my head, I have no idea, but for better or worse, Lucky Cat is chocked full of them. Speaking of which: ‘Anteaters Eat Ants’…? Thanks Isan… could’ve lived without that one.

‘Table of Deciduous Species’ commences several memorable tracks that rebound from that occasional cuteness; the skyward wonder of ‘What This Button Did’ and the beat-laden surprise of ‘Scraph’, that steps boldly forward when most other tracks shyly retreat. Despite the familiar tune of ‘Fueled’, Isan’s performance draws drama from its coy notes, providing a synth-y chill-out before the intensely inward-looking ‘Recently in the Sahara’.

Comprised mostly of inconspicuous tracks, this is a wintry collection that never asks for attention or raises its voice. In that respect, this Isan release may require shut-in days or full-blown hibernation but given the right mood or space-out, Lucky Cat is a model choice for instrumental electronica.