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Bochum Welt, "Elan"
This is the product of a collaboration between Italian Gianluigi Di Costanzoand American Brian Salter that wants to come off as a timeless work ofelectronic pop music, but only makes it half-way there. What BochumWelt learns the hard way is that the middle of the road is a dangerousplace to be.
Fuzzy Box
Elan does have some lovely sounds and crystalclear production, and it avoids dating itself by staying away fromparticularly trendy aesthetic choices. In fact, in that respect, thealbum works very well, but it’s not enough for a record to bedislocated from time. It also needs to be moving in some direction, andthat isn’t happening here.
Although it’s well produced,the album ultimately lacks the soul or energy of some of Bochum Welt’scontemporaries who are working from a similar mold. The tracks on Elansound almost entirely synthesized and that’s not a bad thing until theybegin to sound like perfunctory studio exercises rather thancompositions motivated by any feeling or experience. The melodies arealways pleasant, but not sweeping; the songs are mildly evocative butnot breathtaking or immersive; the rhythms are polite accompaniment,but rarely provide a spark. At every step it feels like Bochum Welt isplaying it safe and taking the path most traveled.
Vocals provided bythe Italian crooner Garbo on “Blue” come off awkwardly and they addlittle to the otherwise pretty but unremarkable track. The Italianastrophysicist and my high school aged-self’s nerd-music crush Dr.Fiorella Terenzi contributes something along the way, but whatever itis it fails to elevate the record to being memorable. There’s nodiscernable style here and at points it sounds as though the albumcould be the temp soundtrack to a car commercial or cheesy Europeanfilm—it hits the right cues but it seems to miss the point.
After a fewspins, everything on the record begins to sound like a keyboard preset,and the lack of any original sound design leaves the compositions tofend for themselves. When there is nothing left in the songs upon whichBochum Welt can prop up an idea or an emotional state, the whole thing collapses like a beautiful straw house.
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