- Technician is an EP by a drummer, and you can tell. Tom Burford's earthy percussion is a prominent feature here—shakers, tambourines, skin percussion and woodblocks all appear—but it never steals the show, caressing the fabric of the luxuriant house tracks instead of battering it. The Manchester-based producer's thick rhythmic frames are layered with a warm and dusty blend of sounds common to Rhythm Section releases. Raspy boogie synths, the type you'd hear from Floating Points, surface on "Technician," "Back And Forth" and "GreenYellowBrown," but otherwise the EP is smeared thick with afrobeat and jazz influences.
These six tracks are finely crafted, though maybe too much. Burford circles back on himself frequently, and sometimes the difference between one track and the next is only a matter of tempo and a slightly leavened synth. On "Seven Arched Tongues," we get a shift in gear—Burford's drums have an extra spring, and there's an idiophone melody that pairs well with his squelching synth. The whistling loop and junky rat-a-tat drumming of "Blossom Towers" also distinguish themselves, but elsewhere it feels as if Burford has spread himself too thin.
TracklistA1 Technician
A2 Eyes Down
A3 Back And Forth
B1 Seven Arched Tongues
B2 Blossom Towers
B3 GreenYellowBrown