COH, more commonly found putting out instrumental releases, here gathers together 8 vocal tracks, some previously released, some unreleased. But rather than showcasing vocalists, these works include mostly quite modest, often spoken-word vocal elements into a soft-edged downtempo electronica of pulses, clicks and pads.

“Sleepwalker” is a particularly engaging oddity, a beatless and spacious arrangement with a lovely sub-bass pulse under Anna Yamada’s long pure notes, then an totally unexpected organ crescendo. “Alcohol”, with Noriko Taguchi, plays like a drunken child’s lullaby and final track, and “Curious Yellow” a sparse, melancholy piano ballad.

The sonic flipside of those tracks is “Love’s Septic Domain”, a darker and distorted affair with screaming and allusions to dirty hospitals, there to ensure you don’t confuse this release for a chillout album.

Don’t expect a pack of eight full-on pop performances, to put it mildly. Little Annie’s “46 Things I Did Today” is a beat poem set to blipping arpeggio patterns. Peter Christopherson’s whispered spoken-word on “Silence Is Golden” is barely intelligible under a bubbling bed of acid-tinged bleeps. Ann Demeulemeester is barely present on the light, piano-centred opening track “Exercise In Colour”.

It’s an interesting collection, diverse in a way that doesn’t necessarily imply incoherence, and should appeal to fans of Susumu Yokota et al.