The first release on fabric's new Houndstooth label comes from Berlin-based Brit JR Seaton, whose most high profile release so far, No Episode, came on Throne of Blood last year. You could throw all sorts of labels at his music, vivacious and texturally rich as it is, and here he tosses it all at the wall, revelling in the strange, disjointed patterns that result.
Lead track "Threshing Floor" is the star, but it's an unusual one. Imagine the breakdown of a particularly epic tune stretched out to nine minutes, the chords elongated dramatically and drums in permanent bubbling-under stasis. The track breathes in and out, pulling in shards of melody and jarring samples without breaking a sweat. "Leosenger" burrows even deeper into techno neuroses, with a beat so broken it sounds like several rhythms sloppily laid over each other. Add in the dangling chimes that sit uneasily against a backdrop of static, and it's like an unsettling Actress lullaby.
"Siglo Grey Vision" combines these impulses, taking the vast assortment of elements from "Leosenger" and strapping them to a more coherent beat. It's still whispery and moody, but is periodically interrupted by rather brash lashings of sound, including a stellar breakdown that makes you wonder if the track can recover its meek footing. (It does.) This exhaustive EP coughs to a finish with the mournful tones of "No City of a Choice," as Seaton sets off every synth in his studio for another bustling bouquet of sound.
