Compared with the abstract, buried rhythms of 2002’s Confield, Autechre’s new album sees Sean Booth and Rob Brown cautiously reconnect with humanity. Their titles (“Tapr”, “P:Ntil”) still seem to stem from a dyslexic pharmacy, but through the scratchy fog of the opening “Xylin Room” a beat is dimly discernible. By the time we reach “Surripere” we could be listening to a toughened-up Aphex Twin, poignant harmonies battling against oblique but splintering beats.
“Theme Of Sudden Roundabout” is even danceable, and “V-Proc” would be ambient in more clueless hands, but here the repose is systematically unseated by increasingly fractious electro-blurts.
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