- Nautilus, Acronym's second release on Abdulla Rashim's Northern Electronics label, directly courts oceanic associations, but it could just have easily hitched its cart to subterranean caves or Japanese forests. This set falls firmly in the "intricate roller" category that the Swedes do so well, trading assertive, high impact moments for glacial layer-cake arrangements. Fans of elegantly stacked timbres and an expertly crammed frequency spectrum will find much to zen out to on this EP.
The title cut is like an optical illusion; it's only when you stare into the dead centre that the peripherals begin to take shape. Various bottomless caverns reach into the background of the mix, with petrified vapour trails tailing a meteoric low end. Acronym employ a similar method on "Set Sail": depending on where you focus your attention, you're going to hear something different. A mélange of toms, hats and gurgling filters lose their constituent meaning, adding up to a hulking yet dynamic mass that's truly the sum of its parts. By the time "Surfacing" rounds out the set, with a low pressure system of ossified winds, your depth perception has travelled the extremities. The detail Acronym teases out of his mixdowns is a pleasure in the headphones and an intimidatingly beautiful force on large systems.
TracklistA1 Nautilus
A2 Set Sail
A3 Nemo
B1 Hunt
B2 Surfacing