Laws is an almost lawless boarder crossing, skipping across state lines into a number of blurred genres.
Synth wave, minimal pop and the darker side of the synthesizer has been the focus of Mannequin. Octavius aka William Marshall is no bright-eyed newcomer, an artist who’s been releasing since before the millennium. After nearly ten years of silence Octavius returns with Laws. So what is this new sound Mannequin is investigating?
Marshall has a history of Trip Hop, a sound that seems to have receded into the 90s. Some of that Trip Hop element has seeped into Laws, but so have elements of coarse House, Ambient and even Cold Wave. The lumbering hypnotics of “Apartments” gets the ball rolling, a peculiar insular work of bass and unsettling vocals. A raw House undercurrent pulsates across “Of Mask and Money.” The track has a wonderful slow build, primal energy flexing amongst a deep backdrop. A cruelly dark track. “Liars & Thieves” follows, a piece of Hip-Hop minimalism. Some of the beat choice, and composition, throw up memories of James T Cotton, Traxx or John Heckle; shrapnelled and molested machine snares. “Eras, Errors, Heiress” runs along a cacophony of proto industrial beats, pistons coarsely firing with distant vocals.”331 155″ is a respite, an ambient bath, before beats and shadows return. You’re never too sure where Octavius is going to take you next “O I Have Sinned” is a coiled piece of factory distortion, vocals whisper amongst the frazzled melodies. The gentle electronics of “Klaus” ends this curious and extremely diverse album.
I wasn’t at all sure what to expect from this record. William Marshall was a new name to me, and based on Mannequin’s last outings the clever money was on something synthesizer centred. Instead Laws is an almost lawless boarder crossing, skipping across state lines into a number of blurred genres. The Trip Hop tradition is present, but it has been unravelled, tormented and restructured. Aspects of House and Jak reside as willing accomplices to the dangerous knife act being perpetrated by Marshall. At times beautiful, at others dark and Cimmerian, Laws is an unexpected addendum to the Mannequin catalogue; but nevertheless an appreciated and accomplished addition.
Laws is available on Mannequin. [Release page] [Listen or Purchase]
