- Think you've got all the IDM you need? These bucolic, early-Warp soundscapes may make you think again.
- juneunit takes a while to get going. Plangent synth chords wash over you until an unobtrusive drum pattern adds some structure. The first track, "olun," saunters along unhurriedly. You'd be forgiven for thinking you've been here before. The sounds on "olun," and the rest of the American producer's self-titled debut, are the stuff of mid-'90s Warp and Peacefrog. But juneunit yawns and stretches over 90 minutes, gloriously contented in a way that feels rare these days. Like so many records on Doc Sleep and dabecy's Jacktone label, juneunit is unassuming but self-assured, the sound of someone who knows exactly what they want to do with the tools in front of them.
The album, inspired by a move from San Francisco to New England, is calm but hardly static. juneunit's tracks, neither quantized nor loopy, finish somewhere far from where they begin, as drums patterns and tempos change and new melodies sprout from the ether. While the approach seems simple, her spare arrangements let the sounds breathe and luxuriate. On tracks like the groggy "fdsh6" or "583m," gorgeous chords are mottled with detail.
From the track titles to the passive, sometimes bouncy percussion (like "hsn7"), juneunit frequently recalls Amber-era Autechre's feeling of surveying breathtaking but alien landscapes. What elevates juneunit's music above pastiche is its heartfelt emotional quality, which soaks into every aspect of her work. Even "xyo," the album's clubbiest track, has a simple arpeggio that feels deep and soulful. By the time the harmonic chords come in, you'll be putty in her hands. This quality echoes the emotive highs of producers like Shinichi Atobe or DJ Sprinkles as much as her IDM forebears.
juneunit's music can feel inviting and calming, even when there's a thudding kick drum underneath. There are plenty of other IDM revivalists who can do the old-school stuff perfectly—producers like Noumen and Cygnus come to mind—but what's different about juneunit is that she's borrowing a feeling more than a specific sound. juneunit hints at records from the past, but exists entirely on its own terms. It draws you in with familiar sounds and then takes you to deeply personal places.
Tracklist01. olun
02. enwm
03. fdsh6
04. atmw
05. 583m
06. xyo
07. lude
08. ntr
09. hsn7
10. ectrl
11. ksjem
12. wlkhm
13. frlnk
14. cyclp