The duo of Markus Popp (Oval, Microstoria) and Eriko Toyoda, So have only released one album to date, though Toyoda would appear on later Oval albums (such as 2021’s Ovidono). The ten songs on So, named for the first ten letters of the alphabet, pull back the rich layers of electronic sound that Popp had been exploring in his then-recent Oval albums like process and commers – here, using archival song material from Toyoda as building blocks, the duo collapse Popp’s subversive, granular tones into relatively linear structures, with spacious, plucked guitar grounding the album in real time, while Toyoda’s voice hints at melody. There’s a love here for the minor gesture, the small statement, and the paradox in those statements assuming significance. Even at its most warped and crinkled, like the vertiginous, woozy indie-R&B of “F,” Toyoda and Popp get the balance between song and deconstruction just right.