"Chaos Rain," "Uber Spliff To Gatwick" and "Zeno's Paradox" are tracks—released on three separate cassettes—attributed to, respectively, Bank Of England, Dial 666 8100 and That Knightsbridge OG. They were probably made by Darren Cunningham, AKA Actress. Two of those songs, "Uber Spliff To Gatwick" and "Zeno's Paradox," appear on his latest album, AZD, as "Runner" and "Visa" respectively. But the purpose of using aliases, he told Dazed recently, isn't to obscure. "I'm emphasising the distinctiveness in my sound, so it's almost like an extreme patenting," he said. "I know my sound is quite distinctive, but I need to send out reminders of that distinctiveness at the same time because it preserves what I do."
These tracks don't so much preserve as revitalise what Cunningham does. "Chaos Rain" is shrouded in the frost and static we associate with Cunningham, but the track seems richer for the worn-down sounds pushed into electro and R&B shapes. "Zeno's Paradox" turns "Chaos Rain"'s anxious mood inside out—a string section that sounds mournful on the latter is swaggering on the former. The Game Boy arpeggio and snares, which crash like spilled marbles on a hard floor, might call back to youth like the title of Cunningham's album does. (AZD is an anagram of a childhood nickname, Daz.) "Uber Spliff To Gatwick" is the straightest of the three tracks. It's a house roller with Nokia bleeps in the high-end and a bassline with a generous groove. "Chaos Rain," "Zeno's Paradox" and "Uber Spliff To Gatwick" are among Cunningham's most accessible productions to date, yet, as single tracks on limited-run cassettes, they're just the opposite. They reinforce his singular sound while showing a playful side we rarely see.
These tracks don't so much preserve as revitalise what Cunningham does. "Chaos Rain" is shrouded in the frost and static we associate with Cunningham, but the track seems richer for the worn-down sounds pushed into electro and R&B shapes. "Zeno's Paradox" turns "Chaos Rain"'s anxious mood inside out—a string section that sounds mournful on the latter is swaggering on the former. The Game Boy arpeggio and snares, which crash like spilled marbles on a hard floor, might call back to youth like the title of Cunningham's album does. (AZD is an anagram of a childhood nickname, Daz.) "Uber Spliff To Gatwick" is the straightest of the three tracks. It's a house roller with Nokia bleeps in the high-end and a bassline with a generous groove. "Chaos Rain," "Zeno's Paradox" and "Uber Spliff To Gatwick" are among Cunningham's most accessible productions to date, yet, as single tracks on limited-run cassettes, they're just the opposite. They reinforce his singular sound while showing a playful side we rarely see.
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