It feels like we’ve been waiting an absolute age for this release since it was announced a couple of months back. Andy Stott’s output over the last few years has been relentlessly, effortlessly ahead of the game and has never failed to take pride of place in our afterparty playlists. This new album takes the biscuit though. Even though its roots are still firmly embedded in the techno and dubstep that’s influenced his previous offerings, a lot of it’s pretty much un-danceable (think Demdike Stare’s recent triptych). Second track ‘New Ground’ really sums it up, in both terms of pioneering vision and its deep-rooted earthy qualities; like the sounds are seeping through layers of dirt into a vast, dank cavern filled with filthy, naked bodies gyrating in slo-mo unison. Mysterious, hypnotic and disturbing. But that’s not where the inventive experimentation ends on this fantastically rich, precipitously deep record. Dig away and there’s a lot, lot more to discover…
Massive thanks to the awesome Modern Love records for uploading the album to stream in its entirety. Please repay their generosity by purchasing the album here.
Image is by Yosuke Yajima.
