Boreal & Lnrdcroy :: FP-003 (Forbidden Planet)

Stirring sounds are subtly built, expressive tones painted with tender touches and full drum patterns.

Montreal’s Forbidden Planet has had more than an impressive start. The newcomer opened its doors with two releases in 2013, not to forget a cracking mix for ourselves at Igloo. D’Marc Cantu arrived with deep brooding Techno before the mysterious Breaker 1 2 delivered a blinder with Breakin’ (an EP that made many top lists of 2013, including my own.) The Canadian imprint is opening their 2014 account with a 12” from two new names; Boreal and Lnrdcroy coming together for, simply, FP-003.

Boreal gets the record started. Astral samples orbit “Canopy Targets,” jets of reverb soaring above toms and a steady beat. The track is characterized by an all pervasive delicateness, perishing pads subdued by sweetened strings that only amplify the fragility. Lnrdcroy arrives with “Do.ne (Original Altitude Mix)” and I feel like I’m listening to a lost track from The Black Dog’s seminal Bytes. Beats are fragmented as a building pulse breeds heady chords. Curling melodies rise and sink, bending against the onslaught of snare. A brilliant piece. That IDM sound is present in the closer, Boreal’s “Evochamber,” with touches of House being applied. That same softness from “Canopy Targets” is present in the finale. Emotive chords are draped over faint and echoed claps for a moody and thoughtful end to the EP.

Boreal and Lnrdcroy supposedly met on a music forum in the 90s. The influence of that decade is definitely audible across this debut 12”. Stirring sounds are subtly built, expressive tones painted with tender touches and full drum patterns. Forbidden Planet continuing their quality form of 2013.

FP-003 is available on Forbidden Planet.