A Taut Line - Loss (2022)

Tokyo-based label Diskotopia co-founder Matt Lyne returns as A Taut Line for his first solo full-length in over five years. A Taut Line is the principal of numerous monikers that Lyne releases under, his other most prominent being Greeen Linez, a collaboration with long-term musical partner Christopher Greenberg.

Loss, the fourth album as A Taut Line, is a deep and polyamorous tour de force that expands and harnesses the explorations of 2017’s critically acclaimed album Distraction Provisions into an even tighter and more refined sonic narrative.

Elements of acid house, dub techno, trip-hop, and jungle are pulled apart and smashed together again in a post-punk approach, creating a humid and disorientating fourth-world expanse that has become the A Taut Line trademark sound. There’s a clear nostalgic influence across the 12 tracks – particularly drawn from the musical heritage of Lyne’s birth town Bristol - but the album never feels revivalist or paint-by-numbers, as the touchstones that A Taut Line has mined from his youth are filtered through his 17+ years experience living in Japan and then juxtaposed in a fresh- and forward-looking manner.

A central pillar runs through all the tracks, even as they shapeshift across a multitude of sounds and genres. Reoccurring motifs like Lyne’s use of lush yet decaying pads and — for the first time — his own voice provide a sense of consistency, while the intramural theme of loss that gives the album its title, lays down a strong contextual purpose.

Highlights on Loss include Life Force, a love song to 90s Major Force & Mo’Wax output, featuring Japanese singer Chocola B, Is It Creation, a no-wave avant-funk spoken word electro track with original lyrics penned by contemporary writer Thomas Kendall, and the beautiful yet heartbreaking Balearic-ambient nocturne Tableau.