Measured electronics, Electro structures with a respectful nod to IDM, Scars of Intransigence sees Autumn warmth slide into Winter cooling.
A hot Friday night in Madrid. Few too many cervezas. Drive across town. Down some stairs by some ageing office blocks reveals a music bunker. It was within the doors of this black pearl, Specka, that I recently saw Plant43 play. Pearl might be a bit strong, sweatbox might be a better word. Anyway. Headlining Femur was Emile Facey, veteran of labels like Ai Records, Semantica and Frustrated Funk. The mild mannered Briton served up a feast of cold Electro, warming Electronica and IDM tinted music. Much of the aura display was from his latest serving, a full length album for Shipwrec under the banner Scars of Intransigence.
There’s none of that Iberian warmth present in the Arctic winds of “Dormant Technology.” Beats race and machines rumble in this stripped and chilling opener. Echoing chords radiate outwards, leaving the listener remote and enveloped in ever rippling bars. Pathways bend and twist, “Cavernous Bones” setting a meandering melody off down stark corridors. Facey moulds complex soundscapes. Distances are created, the listener set apart from the cold mechanics of Plant43’s audio world. Tracks like “The Coldest Rule” and “Wounding Words” are emblematic of clinical tones being balanced with warmer textures, but it is those icy elements that dominate. The album comes full circle with the speeding Electro of “Pale Reflection.” Drums accelerate against dreamy isolated chords to bring this outing to a close.
This LP, Facey’s first in four years, builds on the established Plant43 sound. Measured electronics, Electro structures with a respectful nod to IDM, Scars of Intransigence sees Autumn warmth slide into Winter cooling. Thought-provoking sounds from the London based producer.
Scars of Intransigence is available in Shipwrec. [Clone]
