Actoma

The opening of Actoma, the 2023 album by New York-based audio engineer and composer James Emrick, puts me in mind of Nuno Canavarro’s extraordinary ‘80s album of mysterious electronics, Plux Quba, which is no mean feat. Like that album, Actoma has a glitchy slipperiness that’s both curiously evasive, but playful and wistful at the same time, with mini-melodies peeking their heads over turrets of glowing, glossy electronica. It’s a sound that was popularised by German acts like Microstoria and Lithops, and Emrick’s following in that vein, in some ways, though there are also connections to more traditional electro-acoustic composition. But it’s a gorgeous album, no matter where you place it; sensuous and tactile.