For Cracks—which was produced in a rural part of Ireland without any outside pressure—Eomac showcases an aptitude for more upfront and punctuated techno, sliced breaks, and broken beat strains.
A series of vivid highs and howling lows, vast sound vistas flicker, pulse, and deform reality
Ian McDonnell is an Irish producer living in Wicklow near Dublin and his Eomac moniker continues to muster vibrant experimental electronic burrows with a definitive punch. For Cracks—which was produced in a rural part of Ireland without any outside pressure—McDonnell showcases an aptitude for more upfront and punctuated techno, sliced breaks, and broken beat strains.
The opening track “Mandate For Murder” provides utter distortion, sample-infestation and a blistering rave manifesto with sputtering drums. Elsewhere you’ll find corrosive post-industrial/technoid swarms on tracks like “Portuguese Man O’War” and “Ancient Self,” albeit with a more textural and cinematic touch. Familiar rhythmic mood shifting structures could be found from artists like Clark, Datach’i, Swarm Intelligence, and Ital Tek—Eomac simply captures both dark and light hues. Take the fragile blips, bleeps and harmonic tones of “What Does Your Heart Tell You” as a prime example where severed techno tentacles spark and shine.
Cracks also delves through several cavernous voids where muddy, erratic and eerie soundscapes bubble to a melting point—the subdued and somewhat terrifying screams of “Falling Through The Cracks” demonstrate this sonic fury. And yet Eomac doesn’t let dark shadows overtake Cracks. A series of vivid highs and howling lows, vast sound vistas flicker, pulse, and deform reality. The brightly polished “Seashells” exhibits magnetic and melodic trails as “Canticle” and “Prophetess” create otherworldly soundtracks we’ve yet to explore. The beautifully choreographed closing piece “All The Rabbits In The Tiergarten” is a summation of its counterparts, bringing together a smorgasbord of fuzzy electronics, blurred techno and instrumental downtempo finesse.
Cracks is available on Planet Mu. [Bandcamp]
