Fluxion - Perfused

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  • Although a solid release, Fluxion's 2009 comeback album Constant Limber searched for the dance floor, straying somewhat unevenly across diverse terrain, mixing house, techno and dub in varied proportions. In short, Constant Limber sounded like a man stepping out after a long isolation and assimilating new ideas into his own language. Perfused, his new album for Echocord, is much more complete, a coherent document whose one step further toward the dance floor may nonetheless unsettle those still in reverence of the deep atmospheres of his past work. In taking that step forward, however, Fluxion completes a satisfying and perhaps unintended circle of works. Although his fifth official album, Perfused feels more like the closing act of a trilogy begun with Vibrant Forms I and II from the mythical Chain Reaction years and extending through to the more ambient Spaces album on Fluxion's own defunct Vibrant Music label. These three sets form a trinity of mind, soul and body. The vaporous, intangible atmospheres of Spaces represent the lightness of the soul whereas the two Vibrant Forms collections were alternatively more hermetic, coiled up and lost their own thoughts. Arriving at Perfused, the body is most obviously reflected in the dance floor tendencies, but also in the physically dense construction of the tracks. Whereas most (dub) techno tracks play games of construction, balancing one sound on another, pulling them away or adding them in to change the tension and momentum, Perfused works differently. Sounds are added and taken away, but the balance never changes. The music is essentially perfused, full to bursting and at times impermeable to its own details even as it works effectively in the club. "Waves" and "Tantalizer," for example, both kick off heavily and stay low to the ground, bruising out sturdy four-to-the-floor rhythms. But the shimmering patterns below the surface of "Waves" can't influence the propulsion while the springing, metallic rhythms of "Tantalizer" bounce playfully but harmlessly off the rollicking bass. "Inflection" is smoother and sleazier, but the dub patterns play second fiddle to the muscular mid tones. When the hi-hat drops, it barely shifts the momentum forward. "Inductance" and "Elation" are both the most melodically extroverted and easily penetrable. Perhaps for this reason they form the first single. "Elation" slips along a sublime and yet heavy dub-groove with sugary propulsion while "Inductance" is more classical and prismatic yet still full of peak time energy. Two exceptions to the rule are "Horizons," which plots out a more downbeat mood, and the pure Jamaican-styled dub reggae of "Wabbler," recorded live in one take. Together they help to modulate the pace of the album. That said, the greatest criticism of Perfused is still the density of each track. It may help the majority of these tunes work in the club, but it masks the dub details that keep the music in flux. There is a wealth of dynamism at the core of each track, but reaching it can mean effort that may alienate some listeners. Even despite its occasional frustrations, however, Perfused is a solid work, both sonically and in quality, and one that also marks out a new and welcome domain for a mysterious and intelligent artist.
  • Tracklist
      01. Horizons 02. Waves 03. Tantalizer 04. Inflection 05. Wabbler 06. Elation 07. Fluctuations 08. Inductance 09. Perfuse
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