Former Seattle techno luminary Bruno Pronsato moved to Germany toward the end of those bleak George W. Bush years and his musical career rocketed to an unprecedented level once he set up shop in Europe.

While he’s best known for his afterhours techno burners, Pronsato has a more restrained, laid-back side, too. With his newish Archangel project (which covered Gary Numan’s “Metal” last year), he enlists some live musicians to bring greater warmth and intimacy to his sound: Peter Gordon (sax), Randy Jones (understate soul-man vocals on album highlight “Steal the Groom”), Yonatan Levi (double bass), David A. Powers (piano), and Bruno’s brother David Ford (guitar, bass). The result is The Bedroom Slant (on the London label Foom), a collection of low-lit, heavy-lidded techno that slyly coaxes you into the horizontal position rather than onto the dance floor. Bruno does a serviceable job on the deadpan vocals and his drum programming is as distinctively, disjunctively funky as ever. The Bedroom Slant is a grower.

In an interview with FACT, Pronsato says that the album is influenced by Roxy Music's Avalon (Pronsato's favorite album), Gang of Four's Entertainment!, and Jonathan Fire*Eater’s Tremble Under Boom Lights. Yu can check it out below. Let's hope Bruno brings some form of his Archangel band to Seattle this year (maybe for Decibel?).