Belgian four-piece Tukan come at their interpretation of kinetic rock music as if some of them have spent a proportion of their time lost in the intense sweep of post-rave dance music.
The drifting synths and Balearic keyboard motifs welded to live drums and bass make for an organic, muscular journey. There is a sense of that dance euphoria spread across most of the seven pieces making up Atoll, plus a touch of funk in the sublime yet subtle basslines.
The album is a meeting of minds and of differing styles, injecting the tracks here with a long-form sense of movement, of breakdowns and build-ups, electronic textures sprinkled across the structures like fairy dust.Dancefloor culture is just one of many influences that abound on Atoll, but the length of the pieces does mean that they can pass through various transitions. The group has a definite urge to stretch and each of the transitions allows a personality to shine briefly, adding something special before being subsumed or overrun by the next leg of the journey.
Some pieces are more minimalist than others, Tommaso Patrix‘s lovely, soft motorik drums with spare use of cymbal on “Raymond” give that sense of slow build, the ebb and flow of synths lending an ageless quality. The sharp guitar tone is a surprise and that is the moment the blood starts to pump as they head into true group territory, locking into one another with a muscular groove that could draw a further cohort of the more bearded variety onto the dancefloor.Squeals and tears of synth rip across this fabric in a chase music sequence; it is possible to see a few of the sections here used as a soundtrack to something gripping, an urgency that is offset by the echoey rhythmic drops and circular keyboard motif that appear towards the end of the album on “Beluga”. The suggestive softness of the bass guides a dreamlike antidote to what came before with the existential, observational spoken word of “Lagoon” dropping even further away, Andrea Pesare‘s warm, gurgling guitar watching over a drifting miasma of other sounds.
Apocalyptic hip-hop sees the album out with vocals courtesy of SVDU. It is dirty and has a slight swagger and is possibly the most unexpected ending; but then considering Tukan’s willingness to dabble in whatever takes their fancy, it is not so surprising after all. It is always good to keep the listener on the back foot, but here in this ever-shifting world on Atoll, it all makes perfect sense.-Mr Olivetti-
