Pantha Du Prince And The Bell Laboratory – Elements Of Light

An absorbing, cerebral and often funky trip

Now this is unexpected: a collaboration between German house genius Hendrik Weber and a troupe of bell players. Formed for live performance,  they’ve gone and recorded an  album. The foregrounding of the bell work, and the lengthy tracks (‘Spectral Split’ is nearly eighteen minutes long) leads to a record that sounds very much of a piece. Not a criticism – the way the bells reverberate curiously throughout the record (listen to the final few minutes of ‘Photon’ and they seem to somehow bounce around the listener) combined with Weber’s beats works very well. This isn’t a record to dip into, but an absorbing, cerebral and often funky trip.

8/10

Words by WILL SALMON

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