slantedsteps return with ‘Life Is Good (Human Touch),’ released April 23 via Manchester imprint SONIC LUNG, continuing a project that has kept its distance from any clear identity.

The duo operate under the names Pictor and Pyxis; piano and voice are the only elements in play, handled with a kind of restraint that leaves space for the performance to shift and settle on its own terms.

Recorded live in a single take, “Life Is Good (Human Touch)” keeps the small details intact, breaths, pauses, the slight instability that comes with real time playing; Pyxis holds a high, fragile register that gradually settles into something steady, while Pictor moves through a sparse piano figure that circles without pushing toward resolution.

There are traces of contemporary minimalism in the pacing, alongside a jazz sensibility in the harmonic movement; the atmosphere carries a darker weight, with points of reference that drift somewhere near Ludovico Einaudi, Bill Evans, Amon Tobin, and Massive Attack without settling in one place for long.

‘Life Is Good (Human Touch)’ is taken from the forthcoming EP ‘slantedsteps,’ due September 10 via SONIC LUNG, the release continues along the same line, holding attention through space, timing, and the accumulation of small, unforced moments.

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