One of electronic music's great veteran auteurs, Mark Van Hoen is admired and respected the world over for his work on iconic labels like R&S, Touch and 4AD both under his own name and as Locust. Where Is The Truth marks a welcome and assured return - an album full of carefully manicured, experimental song-based environments and artful electronic arrangements. You'll notice one or two notable contributors cropping up on here too: Neil Halstead (of Slowdive and Mojave 3 fame) supplies electric guitars, while Julia Frodahl (of Edison Woods) appears on piano. While we may have come to expect stellar productions from Van Hoen and atmospheric, mood-altering rhythmic grooves, you wouldn't necessarily think of him who deals in 'songs' in any conventional sense. With pieces like 'Where Is The Truth' and 'She's Selda' Van Hoen really excels however: the former slips into a kind of textured, cinematic post-trip-hop melancholy, while the latter adopts a filtered, soulful electronic shuffle that recalls Leila. Immediately after this, the minute-long interlude '1979' takes a welcome step onto terrain previously explored by Boards Of Canada or The Advisory Circle, before 'Your Voice' takes us back into the domain of abstract songwriting with a flurry of coarse beats and quivering old tape samples. Good stuff.
