Ovalprocess

Released

With Ovalprocess, Markus Popp of Oval began laying bare his ways of working – the project consists of the album, software, and an installation that ran said software, such that it became a usable public workspace. There was something quite heady about Popp’s discourse at the time, an intriguing interface of entry-level discussion of music practice and quite forbidding, detailed exploration of software design. That’s not exactly swept away by the actual album called Ovalprocess, but it’s second-order to the gorgeous tonic of overload Popp explores here: it was, at tines, his densest album yet, crackling with hypnotic energy. Discussing the album, Popp explained that he wanted it to “use elements that would sound like guitar, organ and feedback,” and that’s definitely in there – particularly the latter, in the thin, intersecting lines of bright light tonality that shine, like beams from a lighthouse, across the surface of these treacherously lovely songs.

Jon Dale