The A-Side contrasts the flip, beat patterns and samples recalling British machine experimentation with breakbeat and jungle. On the B, techno is the focal point with the Australian musician plumbing hidden depths.
Squirming, yet cold, braindance
From the needle drop, there is something different to Pivot. Featherstone has been cultivating his style of squirming, yet cold, braindance on the likes of Gated and Nebulae while honing his craft on his own Ernest’s Way. The Adelaide artist returns to his own imprint for six tracks that mark a shift.
Splintered drums introduce the title piece, a haunting string looming above echoing samples. Breaks give way to angular acid lines that beef-up to brutish proportions, lances of electro piercing this work that sits somewhere at a crossroads of genres. “Underneath It All” follows. Understated, melodies are shrouded in reverb. Strings glide above submerged refrains, beats basking in warmth. And it is the percussive patterns that mark the greatest change in Featherstone’s sound. Low and lazing, the rhythms race at their own pace and lend a relaxed air despite the tempo. This is certainly the case with “Moving Towards You.” Curves of acid spike and swirl over concentric snippets and fractured snares.
The palette pivots on the flip. Rich and textured, drums are the undulating foundation from which subtle keys and pads take form. The influence of the bleep and latter years of Detroit are plain to hear, each expertly intertwined in this evocative piece. Broad bass and a steady kick are countered by gentle movements in the otherworldly “Eclipsed,” 303 globules orbiting in this sci-fi inspired soundtrack. “Cipher” ends. Industrial creations scuttle and skulk in this dub techno world, oblongs of metal reverberating into the darkness.
Speaking with Featherstone, he described Pivot more like a “reintroduction” than another side of his sound. The A-Side contrasts the flip, beat patterns and samples recalling British machine experimentation with breakbeat and jungle. On the B, techno is the focal point with the Australian musician plumbing hidden depths. An EP that shows the breadth of this truly talented producer.
Pivot is available on Ernest’s Way. [Bandcamp]
