The staccato rhythmic delays and mid to high frequency leads bring to mind the poppier side of Reich’s systems music without resorting to familiar phasing tricks. It’s exciting to hear such a significant change in his sound without sacrificing a personal touch and sonic character.
Despite being a prolific producer in the ambient underground, Earthen Sea (aka Jacob Long) popped up a lot of radars with a cut on a 12 inch comp entitled Beat 13. Occupying a similar territory as STL’s “Silent State” and Terekke’s “Bank 3,” this trio of tracks breathed life into dubby dancefloor music by finding an inviting middle ground between Maurizo’s hypnotic, simplistic drive and Omar-S’ low swung house groove, the sort of material perfect for dancers to lose themselves in. Beat 13 was followed up by Mirage and Ink, hissing slices of house and techno abstractions. For his next album, An Act of Love, he released with the American ambient mainstay Kranky, a fitting label where Pan American, a wildly underappreciated producer, explored personal dub interpretations in a compatible way. If An Act of Love was striking in its assertiveness and deep grey color palette, his follow up for Kranky, Grass And Trees, feels like his most unique and bright work yet.
Direct, colorful and even less likely to be used for club use, this newfound approach has cohesion and clarity that’s rarely interrupted during the brief, fits-on-the-side-of-a-C90 playtime. Part of that is a limited set of sounds—dry handclaps, anchoring sub bass, sharp synths, and the occasional touch of processed noise do the vast majority of the work. But there’s also the dubbing—dub techno often utilizes long delay lines, for a calming, often tidal and epic feel, but here there’s a preference for short delay times. This lends a tight and sometimes nervous atmosphere. On “Window, Skin and Mirror” it’s propulsive morning music—mega caffeinated but good natured and out enjoying the sun. “Shallow, Shadowless” yawns deeply but the interplay of dubbed out (or multi-tracked?) handclaps and fm toms are alert and awake. The only misstep is the more conventional mood of “Spatial Ambiguity,” where an overdetermined threatening tone throws off the energy only 3 tracks in—the vibe is saved by the menacing but cosmically funky “A Blank Slate.” Throughout though, the staccato rhythmic delays and mid to high frequency leads bring to mind the poppier side of Reich’s systems music without resorting to familiar phasing tricks. It’s exciting to hear such a significant change in his sound without sacrificing a personal touch and sonic character.
Grass And Trees is available on Kranky.
