(G-Stone/Inertia)

While the world collectively holds its breath waiting for a Kruder & Dorfmeister album that may never come, Richard Dorfmeister’s collaborative Tosca project with fellow Vienna native Rupert Huber has edged forward by a country mile as the most prolific and ‘structured’ half of the enigmatic duo, with this latest album ‘J.A.C.’ representing Tosca’s fourth full-length since their emergence near the end of the nineties. While ‘J.A.C’ takes its acronymic title from the combined initials of the three children Huber and Dorfmeister fathered in the interval between 2003’s ‘Delhi 9’ and this latest release, those fearing a warm cosy album centring around family bliss and domestic chores have little to fear. From the outset it’s obvious that on ‘J.A.C.’ Huber and Dorfmeister have focused on refining the established smooth Tosca template even further, while also continuing the move towards vocal-led tracks introduced on Delhi, with guest vocalists Earl Zinger and Anna Clementi returning to the fold alongside former Rockers Hi-Fi MC Farda P, Samia Farah and Austrian rock singer Stefan Graf Hadik Wildner.

Opening track ‘Rondo Acapricio’ sets things off in familiar downbeat G-Stone territory, lazy funk-infused bass guitar and loping drums tracing a lush path around samples of a Singapore radio announcer, while layers of dubbed-out synthetic ambience trail through the ether. After this instrumental beginning, ‘Heidi Bruehl’ ventures more towards swinging jazz-groove that’s subtly flavoured with French Chanson elements, Samiah Farah’s feathery Gallic vocals gliding over a smoky backdrop of guitar licks, wandering bass and looped downtempo beats, stray traces of Hammond organ shining out through the blurred textures, before ‘Superrob’ sees Earl Zinger stepping up to the mike in a curious dubbed-out blues / house hybrid that touches on St. Germain’s digitally reassembled guitar atmospherics while also somehow managing to venture into a dark corner during Zinger’s chorus vocal that almost calls to mind Nick Cave, the rasping doom-laden delivery fusing fluidly with the pulsating rhythms below.

‘John Lee Huber’ offers one of this album’s highlights with crisp programmed beats clinging tightly to twangy blues guitar licks and wafting synths while vocalist Chris Eckman injects a tense nervy sense of funk that calls to mind ‘Remain In Light’-period Talking Heads over the smooth programmed rhythms, while ‘The Big Sleep’ takes things even further out into twangy blues territory, Stefan Wildner’s smoky growl curving its way seductively around dubbed-out guitar fretwork, swinging live drums and warm jazz horns. ‘Damentag’ conjures up images of ‘Controversy’-era Prince, with retro synth stabs and funky wah guitar cutting a tight figure over swelling Clinton-esque synths and lithe programmed house rhythms, before ‘Sala’ ushers in the instrumental second half of this album, slow clicking beats and crashing cymbals tracing a path around ebbing synths, double-bass and reversed guitar samples in a manner that recalls Tosca’s more outwardly synthetic early outings ‘Opera’ and ‘Suzuki.’ Finally, ‘No More Olives’ brings this album to a downbeat close, cycling guitar textures and dreamlike bell loops tracing their way over a wavering backdrop of blurry synth ambience and slow-motion jazz cymbals.

‘J.A.C.’ is certainly an album that’s guaranteed to go down well with Tosca / G-Stone fans as it shows Dorfmeister and Huber opting not to rip up the established template, in favour of honing their signature sound to an even more smooth and streamlined degree. While the accompanying bio makes mention of the duo’s increased interest in the “digitally untouched sound of real instruments” in the wake of Tosca’s move towards a live band incarnation, my personal take was that rather than being some stripped down acoustic album focusing on ‘live’ performances, ‘J.A.C.’ in fact shows the duo making use of more synthetic elements than ever, it’s just that they’ve perhaps never quite managed the fusion between electronics and acoustics in such a seamless, subtle fashion before. If anything, this is an album that perhaps leans further towards blues influences and house than the three Tosca records that preceded it, and while some may accuse Dorfmeister and Huber of opting for the ‘safe’ path, those who’ve been eagerly awaiting new material from Tosca won’t be disappointed by ‘J.A.C.’

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