Lorn returns with a new full-length album, his debut on Ninja Tune, and it’s a huge stride forward since “Nothing Else” (released on Brainfeeder, June 2010). “Ask The Dust,” is “haunted, oily, smeared,” and with this description he captures something of the intensely felt, visceral aliveness of the music.
If Milwaukee-based Lorn began his musical career as a poet of alienation,
then “Ask The Dust”
(named after the 1939 proto-Beat classic novel of the same name by John Fante)
sees his music develop a more human energy. In particular, the use of his own
singing voice (a process which began on the last track of “Nothing Else,”
“What’s The Use”), which has added a new dimension to his often crunching
and brutal but never less than beautiful electronic music.
Since the release of “Nothing Else,” Lorn has toured the world alongside the
likes of Mary Anne Hobbs, Amon Tobin, and Gonja Sufi to name a few.
Outstanding album.