The first time I have explored Stott’s music was in 2012. I have read a track review on pitchfork. It was about his new track “Numb”. His first collaboration with Alison Skidmore, his ex-piano teacher. It was that kind of a track you are into it since the first seconds. At the beginning the echo vocals from Skidmore generates a very special mood and after the first third, Stott follows with his industrial dub bass.
In the same year Stott releases “Luxury Problems” on the manchester based label Modern Love. It includes the mentioned track “Numb” and a bunch of other great selections. It was also my album of the year 2012! Following this I explored more and more that kind of sound. Togehter with Miles Whittaker he also collaborates under the name Millie & Andrea and that’s not less spectacular. “Drop the Vowels” is a very rough dub techno record. Not easy to handle at the first time but very enjoyful later. In 2014 Stott release the follow up to “Luxury Problems” it calls “Faith in Strangers”. For me it has not the same effect like “Luxury Problems”. Not a bad record at all but my expectations goes in another direction. “Faith in Stranges” seems to smooth and to poopy in my ears. I like the dark elements of Millie & Andrea combined with the vocal work from “Luxury Problems”. But I have to say that I don’t spend so much time on this release. For his new record “Too Many Voices” I act a little bit carefully. The albums first indicator “Butterflies” doesn’t make it much better (my initial thoughts). Stott has never written before a track like this. It sounds very R&B stylish and poppy. For me the second outtake from “Too Many Voices” does make it much better. “Selfish” is a beast of a track! It’s exactly that great damaged dub style from Millie & Andrea that I loved in 2014. This is also the reason why I love the new record much more than the predecessor. My first reference here is Oneothrix Point Never. There are some elements in it where you think about the craziness of the last OPN releases. In the album context “Butterflies” sounds great and led you into this new collection. “New Romantic” shines with a great flow however the following up “First Night” is more like a monotonous dub bass track. In “Forgotten” Stott plays with melodies and loop killing effects. But one of my highlights from side B is “On My Mind”. It beginns with a rough bass and flows in a similar melody like “New Romantic”. The closing point sets the album title track “Too Many Voices”. At the very latest point you can feel Stott’s inspration source, the fourth-world pop of Japan’s Yellow Magic Orchestra. It’s a vision of the future as was once imagined; artificial, strange and immaculate (Boomkat).
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