Plans Drawn in Pencil (Dig)

isan | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 27, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Morr Music / M.M.
• ASIN: B000F3UIFE
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #342,899 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars like melting icicles, July 19, 2007

By 

Richard Patterson (Montclair, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Plans Drawn in Pencil (Dig) (Audio CD)

Sure, ISAN have a distinctive palette of sonic tools and melodic theory from which they rarely diverge. But how many great albums do most groups produce? This duo has consistently delivered. Imagine relaxing on the Danube on a clear day with little puffy clouds wafting along when suddenly your favorite music box from your childhood lazily floats by atop a clean, clear iceberg. What is this iceberg doing in here in the middle of summer? Pastels and primaries reflect through this ice cube and woo you into a dream state where you hear every leaf fall, and every dripping faucet, and they are all aligned in an accidental symphony. Not to say that Isan are scoring on accident. It takes four gifted ears to make something both pleasant and challenging, simultaneously deep and simple. This is like dragging a giant record needle slowly around a Zen rock garden. I hope Eno is listening. If you like ISAN then I suggest some Audio Dregs Recordings artists as well.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicate instrumentals made with a graceful touch and an invitation to float freely., August 6, 2006

By 

Aquarius Records (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Plans Drawn in Pencil (Dig) (Audio CD)

While the landscape of "dreamy" electronica has been quite flooded in the last several years there will always be those that rise above the flock in any crowded genre, and Isan are one of the few who do indeed float high above most of their peers. What makes Isan so special is the songs, using their laptops and keyboards to create airy melodies and lovely lucid washes of sound. While so many of their contemporaries have added forced vocals on top of their sounds, often big name guests, in order to break into the "next level" we're happy that Isan have kept it purely instrumental, as the songs they write feel totally complete as-is and allow us, as listeners, to bring more of our imagination to the songs. There are definite similarities to like minded and former label mates Mum, especially their first primarily instrumental debut, as well fleeting glimpses of Boards of Canada at their most blissed out, and perhaps like a less skeletal version of Colleen. We also keep thinking a lot about how Isan in many ways represent this generation's version of Durruti Column. Delicate instrumentals made with a graceful touch and an invitation to float freely.

4.0 out of 5 stars ISAN - Plans Drawn In Pencil, April 14, 2011

By 

scoundrel - See all my reviews

This review is from: Plans Drawn in Pencil (Dig) (Audio CD)

The bucolic electronic of Isan has drawn them comparisons to Boards of Canada, but that's misleading. _Plans Drawn in Pencil_ has the simple schematic design as the title suggest. Their melodies are clean and relatively unadorned ("Ship"); oftentimes, percussion is nothing more than a simple tick ("Look and Yes"). The oscillating "Yttrium" sounds as rarefied as the element after which it's named, while "Amber Button" has some interesting decay mechanics before filling in. You'd expect a track named "Roadrunner" to race ahead, but this isn't the case. Instead, it builds sonically, in careful layers. The tracks are simple and pleasant, but can still convey a range of emotional states: "Stickland" carries a certain sadness, for example. While nothing on this album has the pure wow factor, it still manages to be a pleasing listening experience.