Alva Noto - Xerrox Vol.4

Five years after Xerrox Vol. 3, Carsten Nicolai returned to his long-running series in 2020 with its most fully realized entry yet. Released on his own Noton label, Xerrox Vol. 4 marks a genuine shift in method. Where the first three volumes were built from external samples, advertising jingles, film scores, borrowed recordings, run through cycles of copying until unrecognizable, this fourth installment moves away from that source-and-reproduction process entirely, working instead from warm, organic-sounding strings and thrumming digital ambience built largely from scratch.

The result is fourteen pieces that unfold as a single, unified cinematic soundscape, closer to modern minimalist classical than the glitch-driven electronics Nicolai made his name on decades earlier. Swelling string tones breathe against deep, punctuating bass, drifting between tension and release as organic warmth pushes up against static digital textures, distant roars, and cascading electronic detail. It's some of the most emotionally direct music in his catalog, trading the series' earlier conceptual rigor for something closer to pure feeling.

Coming after over a decade of Xerrox releases, Vol. 4 reaffirmed the series as one of the most ambitious long-form projects in contemporary electronic music, and set the stage for Xerrox Vol. 5 to close out the cycle in 2024. It stands as a high point for listeners drawn to the more expansive, string-laden side of Nicolai's work.

This pressing comes as a double LP on Noton, giving the album's slow-building, orchestral-scale pieces the physical format they deserve. A must for anyone following the Xerrox series through to its most emotionally rich chapter yet.