An exciting electro-acoustic collaboration from two of the UK’s foremost contemporary composers, ‘Scanni’ fuses the sensibilities of pianist and celebrated arranger Anni Hogan (Marc & The Mambas, Marc Almond) with the avante-garde noise production and curation of celebrated electronic musician and sampler Scanner across ten tracks that feature a wealth of guest musicians and vocalists from the alternative music scene. Martin Bowes (Attrition) co-wrote and plays drone synths on the track ‘Alone’. Wolfgang Flür, legendary ex-Kraftwerk percussionist and performance artist, provides lyric and vocals for the track ‘Golden Light’. Jarboethe lauded singer from the Swans appears on two tracks, ‘Carelessly’ and ‘Cinecittà’. Further guest appearances from cult singers Jennifer John, Kate Smith and Merseyside legend Thomas Lang.

Over their unique and rather individualistic careers, both Anni Hogan and Scanner have produced work that has joined the dots between Marc Almond and Nick Cave, Bryan Ferry and Bjork, contemporary dance and theatre, literature and visual arts. ‘Scanni’ is the result of their first collaboration and, over the last two years, the tracks therein have emerged from a committed and piecemeal exchange of digital files into an accomplished complex multi-genre work of affecting beauty.

Along this journey they both lost family in a real-life rollercoaster of tragedy and confusion; this is reflected in the ‘hall of mirrors’ that is the track ‘Glorious’, where a spirituality rises to the surface to embrace both the melancholy and the beauty of heartbreak. It’s also evident in the pensive contemplation of ‘Alone’, the very first piece they collaborated on.

In contrast, there’s the heartiest track ‘A Life Well Lived’, with its positive energy and beguiling optimism, and ‘Future’, a well-cooked funky discotonic tune, both of which offer a way forward, out of the darker moments, and into light and hope.

‘Scanni’ offers an aesthetic of faith and of possibility; it is music that has reawakened both artists to explore new directions in their own sensibilities and creativity. In many ways, the record is about the timeless qualities of love, loss and friendship, all of which imbue the singular artistic endeavours and joint working relationship that, ultimately, is ‘Scanni’.