Plaid

Scintilli marks Plaid's sixth album proper and their first in eight years, not counting their soundtrack work for Michael Arias and their audiovisual collaboration with Bob Jaroc. Andy Turner and Ed Handley have managed to craft an album that's satisfyingly varied in tone and mood, yet has coherence as a whole. Opener "Missing" has a strong modern classical influence, with off-kilter harpsichord and quasi-operatic vocal samples lending it an almost Vespertine-esque vibe (Plaid have collaborated with Björk in the past). Standout track "Eye Robot" has an Amon Tobin-sounding rhythm, whereas "Unbank" sounds like John Carpenter covering the BBC Radiophonic Workshops's famous Doctor Who theme. "Tender Hooks" has an almost Caribbean lilt to it, as well as an optimism not found often enough in the serious world of IDM. Scintilli is Plaid's most confident-sounding album to date and certainly among their best work.