side-line.com - review

After a strictly limited debut album on Sonderuebertragung, Sunday Strain is back. Formed in 2005 as a side project of Llovespell this is a minimalistic album accompanied by Dorain W’s vocals.
Sometimes poppy, sometimes dark, this is a down tempo record. “Temporary Files” immediately reminds me of Yazoo’s downbeat tracks and Alison Moyet’s vocals. The music itself is minimalistic, sometimes with an IDM approach, but the trip hop beats have the upper hand. Dorain’s voice stands forward but unfortunately the production of the vocals could have been much better. You might call me a hair-splitter but I immediately had the feeling the vocals were recorded with a dynamic mic instead of a condensed one.
In other words there are some good ideas, but such a fragile record needs the finishing touch which is lacking here.
(Noa:6/7)Noa.