Recommended
Inspirational Quotes // Sissel Wincent
Sissel Wincent’s tracks feels like bass music without the waffle. Her productions are focused and considered — only elements that are 100% necessary make the final cut. I was lucky enough to catch her set at Norbergfestival a couple of years ago. She delivered her factory percussion with such force that the venue ceiling raining dust down from the ceiling. I was later informed that this was actually pigeon shit.
Her latest offering on Peder Mannerfelt’s eponymous label suggests she won’t be changing her ways anytime soon. Inspirational Quotes delivers characteristically claustrophobic scaffold techno to brutal effect. ‘Cynical’, for example, has distortion coursing through its veins. Crumpled low-end kicks build to a charging forward stomp, corrosive modem soundscapes trembling in the backdrop. ‘Ponytails’ on the other hand fragments gabber tonalities into an eerie industrial half-stepper, foundation-quaking blasts of synthesis rising between rusted steel percussion and whistling sine tones.
There is a sense that all these tracks verge on malfunctioning — off-kilter rhythms and skewed melodics never quite gain a settled footing. ‘Yellow Lines’ feels jaunty and unhinged, warning siren bleeps and callous drums churning in awkward syncopation. Then there are tracks like ‘Still Undetermined’, which takes on a ‘90s Warp quality with squelching modulations and glistening Drexciyan chord progressions escalating right until the tracks close.
In an interview with Resident Advisor, Peder Mannerfelt previously revealed how Paul Purgas of Emptyset began encouraging him to release tracks which seemed half-finished in his eyes. The move has been a stunning success for Mannerfelt, and it appears this all thriller no filler approach is proving equally apt for Wincent. Inspirational Quotes is a release of great depth and character, and I look forward to seeing her next move.
- Published
- Jun 6, 2018
- Credits
- Words by Theo Darton-Moore