Beautifully packaged in a full color card stock mini-jacket and numbered. Drawing upon diverse sources that range from erudite to industrial musics, two unusual bookend instrumentals counter balance two fantastic vocal tracks. Beginning with the orchestral song 'Inner Most Folds' this limited edition CD-EP of 300 copies confirms a minimal electronic music sensibility that has reached across two and half decades. Easily regarded as quot;introductoryquot; in nature because of quot;philharmonicquot; tendencies, the title track fulfills it's mission to lie down an under painting (backdrop) for the three remaining compositions. First up is quot;The Wealth of Experience,quot; a 'Bowie-esque' synthpop groove that dares one to become intimate with it's world music references and serene vision. Laced with a fat analogue bass synthesizer the track has a sensual mesmerizing momentum that acts as a vehicle for the vintage crooning, exquisite envelope treatments and Joy Division-like strings. In contrast 'Halcyon Sentimental' harkens back to the androgynous robotic-like beginnings of the genre. It's infectious simple quot;simplequot; beat urges a climbing and descending rhythm sequencer that propels the song across a landscape of synthetic wonders and vocals that often seem like they are from the days when Marlene Dietrich was in her prime. The whole effort comes to a conclusion with the minimal-techno finale quot;Elephant.quot; More than just a sequencer driven black pop workout, the composition builds to a crescendo that ultimately ends in one of Lane's anthemic Moog solos. While certainly homage to quot;progressive rock,quot; the track stays deeply rooted in a minimalist foundation. Going back to the early dawn of the new wave and punk movements, Mark Lane began his electronic music and tape splicing experiments in 1980. His first release in 1981 was a vinyl 7quot; entitled quot;Love is So Aggravating.quot; Although it was well received, it was the release of his 1984 mini-LP entitled quot;Who's Really Listening?quot; that garnered him critical acclaim and cemented his place historically as one of the early pioneers of minimal electronic synthpop. Tracks like quot;Sojournquot; and quot;White Glovequot; still rank very high among djs and aficionados of this era and have become standards of the genre. During 1985 Mr. Lane made a short tour of the Netherlands with the founding members of the Klinik who were then touring their first record. Those shows and their recordings are still remembered as an innovative and important chapter in the history of the Belgian electronic music scene. Additionally Lane collaborated with a large number of European musicians of the era including members of Attrition, Data-Bank-A, Vomito Negro, De Fabriek, Mechanic Kommando, Afterimage, and Conrad Schnitzler of Tangerine Dream and Kluster. In the mid 90's Mark Lane released two CD-EPs quot;Black Lipstickquot; and quot;Shadow Mergerquot; which in essence are sister recordings that link his past work to the present. Now at the height of his ardent analogue minimal style he celebrates his 25th music anniversary with three new releases, and continues to produce electronic music through a third decade.
