Postrancepose

Interesting one this: think leftfield, freestyle trance wearing progressive shoes, and you’re pretty much there.

Klosterfunk is a beautiful bit of music to get things started; deliriously laid back, with epic chords and smooth, timeless patterns. Fakin Nathex sounds faster than its bpm of 127, a kraftwerky collage of sounds and a sprinkle of eerie, edgy sounds on the periphery.

D-Fraktion picks up the pace a little, there’s plenty of twist here and that edgy paranoia is coming to the fore; meanwhile Diplik is a nice little cruncher, with dreamy prog juxtaposed against rough, sketchy sounds. It’s interesting in itself, but might sound too muddy to keep a dancefloor focused and unconfused (though I accept that this may be the idea.)

Trodden Fire moves us more into sideways-doof territory, the phrasing is decent and the breakdown and subsequent drop are solid moments, and Moving Targets puts the chaos at the centre and gets your feet moving nicely. Critical Overflow is bloody good, proper hypnotic trance that sucks you right into the rabbit hole. Dazzling stuff, brilliantly executed.

The flow continues with The Shining, an awesome bit of Underworld-y techno that’s one of the best tracks I’ve ever heard. Unfolding, developing, smooth, emotive, organic – it has it all. The downtempo tracks at the end – Reentrant Uperiodic and Aidiemist – are a little rambling and self-indulgent; Seth seems to be preoccupied in making strange sounds, and while experimentation is a necessary part of making good music, you don’t want to forget the ears that end up listening.

I want to like this album: there’s a lot of positive here, and the variety of underground sounds definitely appeals. There’s something about it, however, that makes me feel it’s not one you’ll come back to time and time again. Dazzling moments, but a little too awkward to be truly essential.