Mor Elian - Persona Non Grata

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  • Something about Mor Elian's tracks can make them feel like closed environments. Their cool density, measured drums and tight-lipped moods can seem inaccessible from the outside. Once you find a cracked window, though, the interiors are fascinating. This EP for Hypercolour offers fewer entry points than last year's career highlight, Fairplex Drive, but the effort is worth it. "Persona Non Grata," for instance, presents a monochrome electro front at first, but then you notice the muted pad figures, floating past like the ghostly echoes of early Windows idents. A tense sci-fi pad pops up and the track starts to flicker and dart with restive detail. "Xeric Zula" and "Dysmorphia" both pivot tentatively around late-entry pads. The former is the EP's strangest track, a stumbling groove with faint smudges of colour. "Dysmorphia" builds in a more conventional way, but the second half's soulful chords sit oddly with the Mills-style arp twinkles, creating a tension that never quite resolves. The gorgeous "Feral Chime" has the EP's only sort-of-breakdown. Elian's drums usually just roll and roll, but this time the pacey kick ducks out for just a few moments. That's your chance to slip through to the spacious world inside.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Persona Non Grata A2 Xeric Zula B1 Dysmorphia B2 Feral Chime
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