Gradually snapping into sharp focus through a haze of preparatory feedback, Loop’s first album in 32 years immediately startles with the crisp, driving, motorik momentum of Interference. Setting an immediately engaging sonic template for the remainder of the south London innovator’s fourth record, it’s a fat-free distillation of all that’s irresistible about Loop’s enduring MO: the mesmeric monotony of early Stooges, minimal astro-psych riff-storms Hawkwind, nagging mecha Neu! beats and spiralling electro dystopia of Suicide. Key elements, familiar from Loop’s illustrious past explode in a seamless alliance of intensified sonics.
Long-standing focal point Robert Hampson’s enigmatic lyrics are, as usual, cannily buried just deep enough in the mix to pass them off as tantalising conundrums, while the overall sound is manipulated beautifully in a complementary production that accentuates the intrinsic otherness of the material. As the headphone-essential plummet of Fermion phases in and out of focus in an ear-boggling manner reminiscent of Eno’s Roxy Music, you can’t help but be sold on this eminently 21st century Loop redux.
