Stephen Mallinder, co-founder and frontman of the iconicCabaret Voltaire, has returned with his first solo album in over 35 years:Um Dada. Laced with leftfield house and cut-up sound collages,Um Dadais a melding of energies that are an exercise in simplicity and motion. Sincere, playful realism that beckons your body to move, always reminding you to never take yourself too seriously without forfeiting your agency.While steeringCabaret Voltairethrough the 1980s, Mallinder was already busy piecing together his first solo album entitled Pow Wow, which would help define Mallinders interest in the more leftfield electro sounds shaping England at the time. It was this diverse and abstract hybrid that helped inspire generations of artists and musicians through steeping raw machine funk within the whimsical and absurdist ideology.Since the release of Pow Wow in 1982, Mallinder continued his pioneering work with Cabaret Voltaire, as well as recording and touring with his electro projectsWrangler,Creep Show,Hey Rube,Kula, andCobby Mallinder. In addition to his non-stop schedule in electronic music, his professional life as a journalist, broadcaster, producer and now a professor of Digital Music Sound Art at the University of Brighton, has lead Mallinder to a unique point in his career. Most in his position would be caught up in rosy retrospection, but Mallinder himself says, Theres too much digital finger-licking right now; every thought and desire at the turn of a dial well a click of the mouse. And theres a giddy, false nostalgia about the analogue past. Sorry to burst your bubble but the truth of history is more mundane: practical, pragmatic...Um Dadais about play cut and paste, lost words, twisted presets, voice collage, simple sounds things that have been lost to technologys current determinism. Let the machines talk to each other, let them dance .. they lead, we follow.Um Dadaopens up with the exact machine-led surrealism that Mallinder recommends in Working (You Are). A thick, stripped back dance floor groove provides the ideal foundation for Mallinders eccentric vocal cuts. The frisky chops present an almost twisted irony, subtly bringing to mind the role were all forced to play as just another cog in the ever grinding capitalist machine of life. Yet, somehow, the listener is left feeling optimistic. A prime example of simplicity at work.Tracks such as Satellite give a skillful illustration of Mallinders adeptness with his musical expertise while preserving his core historical context as only simple reference. The underlying bassline and percussion, coupled with the floating melodies and airy vocal refrain disclose the vulnerabilities of love and loss without a hint of irony or nostalgia.Um Dada is mischievously idealist, however never loses touch with reality. Offering structure while simultaneously dismantling any and all preconceptions. The spirit of sincerity that sustained Cabaret Voltaires lengthy career is abundantly present within founder Stephen Mallinders journey through his own whimsical utopian consciousness and staking claim to an identity that is solely his own.