- You have to be in a mood to enjoy Au. The moodiest of abstract electro, it's enveloping stuff that takes over the room as soon as it's placed on the turntable. The newest EP from the mysterious German duo known only on their website as SVN and DNL uses repetition as a blunt object, testing your breaking point before tweaking things just enough to keep you engaged. "Guild" is a perfect example. Its wavering melody starts out melancholy, but then becomes almost overbearing in its insistent lack of progression. A hi-hat from a drum machine comes in eventually, getting louder and faster until it starts to feel like its tearing the original theme apart. Without its lengthy build, this sort of moment would be impossible. With its lengthy build, you might have turned it off three minutes before.
"Guild" and the other three tracks around it, though, are worth the patience. "Truth" slips in a tiny disruption that you'll only hear once. "Trilogy" only begins to open itself up after minutes of an enormous bassline standing relatively still. Restraint like this doesn't come often these days, and neither does this sort of elegantly constructed techno. It may not be floor-filling material, but 2 is eccentric and satisfying enough to warrant the effort.
Tracklist A1 Truth
A2 Trilogy
B1 Building
B2 Guild