That reviewer sort of points up what I found to be the problem here, and it's an understandable one. When you drop a 4 hour album followed by an 8 hour one that are both full of what a lot of people (including me) cite as some of their most experimental and often best work in a long time, going back to a more traditional album length format is inevitably going to be - at least initially - underwhelming. We don't don't have the quantity. And on top of that, they've moved back to a more "melodic" form - as complex as it frequently is - than previous work that requires more structure and less algorithm. That isn't what many of us want from an Autechre release right?
But... these albums need to be given time, I think. It's odd that they've released them separately rather than as a double album like Exai, which might have ultimately garnered a better reception. But even Exai was hard to absorb on initial release because it was so fucking long and dense, and why try to recreate that anyway?
I didn't like PLUS when I first heard it. I was under the impression that it was just a shorter, more minimal take on elseq and NTS. But of course it's not, as tracks like X4, marhide, TM1 open or lux 106 mod attest. I'm fucking hooked on this album now, because the complex melodic element is just fucking awesome... like Oversteps and Move of Ten. I hope soon to be equally hooked on SIGN.
Did they maybe release these in the wrong order?