The Enlightenment Machine' is a welcome return from one of European House music and electronica's true originals. As with his whole catalogue since 1994, Khan finds an ambiguous sweetspot between soulful synth-pop, house, German cabaret and electronica with a uniquely refined production touch and elegant vocals. Released on the recently minted AlbumLabel division of Random Noize Musick (Apparat, Oval, Phon.O), it's a concerted effort to play within and around the LP format, structured with a novel-like song cycle wending thru a spectrum of both blurred and clear-cut emotions intricately woven with keen attention to textural detail and a blend of both electronic and acoustic instrumentation, most notably featuring New York-based Cellist Julia Kent in the airborne waltz, 'Everybody Is A Bell' and pensive electro arabesque 'No Soul'. Those highlights aside, we're also taken with the club-wise title track, whose name and mesmerising groove were inspired by Brion Gysin's Dream Machine, and also by the exotic ornamentation of his Shackleton-esque ace 'The Future (Is Immortal)'. Imagine David Lynch soundtracking a members-only after-party in a lesser travelled zone of Berlin and you've nearly got the measure of this album.
