SHALT - ʃælt ii

  • The second instalment in an excellent experimental EP series.
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  • On his debut full-length, out this September on Astral Plane Recordings, the London-based producer SHALT fleshes out the relationship between nature and technology, imagining how an apocalypse might sound as it unfolds in real time. No sense of fear comes across, just the inevitable reckoning with the gravity of the situation. We get a preview of this in the second instalment of SHALT's "sound mechanics and loop-focused" series, ʃælt. While last year's first ʃælt single retained SHALT's crunchy textures and rhythms, it was much brighter than most of his earlier releases. ʃælt ii returns to the shadows, but with a restrained temperament—everything is more serious, more measured. "Liquesce" uses slow, syrupy breakbeats to offset the momentum of its industrial-club vibe, while the sway of "Nid De Guêpes" ("wasp's nest" in French) wouldn't sound out of place on Amnesia Scanner's first EP. Nunu's remix makes the rhythm big and slow with blown-out strikes of percussion, a surprising but welcome departure from 2016's fast-moving Mind Body Dialogue EP. There's a moment of quiet before the low-end reemerges on "Nid De Guêpes," when the distorted snares creep back into the mix and it feels like you are about to be engulfed in a cloud of insects. It's a succinct representation of SHALT's production style.
  • Tracklist
      01. Liquesce 02. Nid De Guêpes 03. Nid De Guêpes (Nunu Remix)
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