Recommended
Bow EP // AnD
Label: Modal Analysis
Format: 12”
Release Date: 27/11/2013
These last few weeks have presumably been pretty hectic for Manchester based duo AnD, their label Inner Surface Music (co-run by Tom Dicicco) having released its sixth edition last week, within touching distance of the due date for AnD’s own ‘Bow’ EP for Athenian label Modal Analysis.
Opening with ‘Bow#1’, the track sees gristled layers of static stutter along as ticking percussion leads up to cleansing blasts of quaking low-end. As things develop, a warbling riff eases its way into the mix, adding an eerie, unsettling quality to the track.
It’s no secret that in recent years the pair have been pursuing darker more abrasive sounds, however ‘Bow#2’ borders on the antisocial; the EP’s opener sounding light in comparison. Haggard, broken rhythms work into a stoney-faced march, piercing modular synth work creeping through the grating layers of noise as the track builds into its second half.
Russell Haswell’s decomposition of ‘Bow#1’ occupies the second half of the record’s b-side, calling to mind Mathew Herbert’s work as Radio Boy through its rasping hardware style aesthetics, and wild improvisational quality. Haswell strips the track of it’s flailing melody, warping the percussive elements out of recognition. Steam engine like noise blasts through alien bleeps and burbles, building to near unbearable intensity in the track’s closing minutes.
Modal Analysis’ two original tracks to one remix formula has always been carried off a damn sight more successfully than the same recipe is with other labels, largely for the fact their choice of remixers always seem beautifully appropriate. Here the pairing effectively puts AnD in the context of noise music in its wider sphere, of which they fit into extremely well in my opinion.
- Published
- Dec 3, 2013
- Credits
- Words by Theo Darton-Moore