- The most refined techno release yet from the Bristol punk provocateurs.
- "Sugar And Air," the lead track from Giant Swan's newest EP, Fantasy Food, starts in medias res. We're thrown into a churn of distorted vocals and pounding kick drums that carry the Bristol duo's usual sense of frenetic energy. But "Sugar And Air" is also surprisingly straightforward for the techno upstarts. The drums keep a steady four-four time as the track builds to a breakdown designed to send the dance floor into a tizzy. Heck, there's even a closed hi-hat line that Adam Beyer would like. This isn't to say Giant Swan have gone business techno. But, to use an analogy from the duo's hardcore background, it's like hearing the total abandon of Minor Threat transition into Fugazi, as the two lay sci-fi synth noodling over rugged drum tracks across Fantasy Food.
Setting aside the drumless analog jam "Fantasy Food"—catnip for the Celebrate The Last 30 Years Of Human Ego crowd—the adjective I keep coming back to on Fantasy Food is "clean." As counterintuitive as that might sound for their usually scuzzy tracks, the duo hinted at this direction with the more refined sound design of 2021's (appropriately titled) Do Not Be Afraid Of Tenderness. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find a more high-definition techno track than "RRR+1." It's terrifying and intense, sure, but it also sounds chrome-plated, and each drum, synth, and vocal snippet lands with precision. The same is true of "Abacuses." The warping melodies threaten to fall out of place in the extended break, but once the elastic kick drum thunders back in, the whole thing locks into a sleek, heads-down groove.
This is the sound of a group who plays some of the world's biggest techno clubs and festivals, but still maintain an insurgent sense of outsiderness in their punk ethos. It's a record, in other words, that is more Voam than Young Echo. But in making this transition, Fantasy Food also underlines that even without a wall of distortion and everything recorded in the red, Giant Swan can turn out contemporary techno with the best of them.
Tracklist01. Sugar and Air
02. Abacuses
03. Fantasy Food
04. Boasting
05. RRR+1