Dok

Oval was originally a trio concern, but the fourth Oval album finds the project solely in the hands of founder Markus Popp. DOK also sees Popp abandoning his trademark fascination with damaged CDs and instead focusing his unique digital reconstructive processes on a more limiting sound source. For DOK, a collaborative effort with Tokyo-based sound collector (and occasional labelmate) Christophe Charles, Popp procured samples from Charles' extensive archives of bell recordings. Popp fed these sounds, along with his own environmental recordings and minimal bass tones, through Oval's central software-run engine. The result is a work that is noticeably different from earlier Oval albums in feel yet every bit as extraordinary.
On "Polygon Medpack," Popp draws a scrim of naturalistic calm-- windswept and strewn with the digitized twitter of imaginary birds--from and around Charles' tolling bells. The rippling chromatic moire of "Reversioning" or "Vitra Desk" counterbalances the gently ruffled ambience of "Dekon/Rekon Anything" and "Momentan VR." Compared with the immediate musical charms of SYSTEMISCH and 94DISKONT, DOK's thinner melodic currents and denser atmospheres might seem a little unsatisfying. But this is some of Popp's most remarkable handiwork--a tapestry of tiny sounds and gorgeous details that rewards attentive listening.