- Rory McPike has released ten solo records in the past few years, so it wouldn't be surprising if he let the quality slip once in a while. Yet his lush hardware jams as Dan White, which span jungle, house and ambient, are always consistent and diverse. He arrives on Firecracker's sub-label, Unthank, under his sci-fi-leaning Rings Around Saturn alias, delivering a typically scattershot package united by warmth and retro flair.
The release is split across a 10-inch and a 7-inch, which allows McPike a neat stylistic divide. The 10-inch impresses most on the scuffed electro glide of "Synchrotron" and "I Can See Look Am At We," an aching space ballad where feather-soft keys arc over a drum track muted to a pulse. The B-side tracks, "Jupiter C" and "Spectrum," share the same atmospherics, but they could use a stronger sense of direction. McPike dials up the funk on the 7-inch, especially on the release's best track, "F 124cc." It couples a swaggering bassline with a surging arpeggio across the breakdown. He shifts the tone again on the woozy closer, "Silver Ghost."
TracklistA1 Synchrotron
A2 Peripheral Visionary
A3 I Can See Look Am At We
B1 Jupiter C
B2 Spectrum
C1 F 124cc
D1 Silver Ghost