Morphology & Sync 24 :: Low Pass Gateway (Cultivated Electronics)

Unsurprisingly, this is a quality release. Morphology are part of a new generation responsible for re-inventing the colder side of electronics, as has Sync 24. Low Pass Gateway is emblematic of their achievements. Distance, diverse and deep.

The Finnish duo of Morphology are not strangers to Britain’s Cultivated Electronics. The partnership premièred on Sync 24’s imprint a couple of years back with Information Paradox. 2015 sees them team up the CE label boss to deliver Low Pass Gateway, the second installment in a new collaborative series.

As you might have already guessed the central focus of the 12” is electro. But that guess was probably accompanied by a knowledge that Matti Turunen, Michael Diekmann and Philip Bolland are three giants of the genre. And that sheer side is on display from the outset. “Bleeding Diode” is tight, driving and relentless. Computer gurgle and silicon squelch is sliced by piercing percussion as ghosting vocals stalk the background. “Abstract Index” starts quite unassumingly. Toms bubble before a sharpen snare asserts authority. The track builds, tempos rising into a lush and subtle undertone. Within arctic gusts are moments of blissed-out warmth, flowing undercurrents and autumnal atmospherics. But, the overall mood is muted. It is the shadows that are given focus, as seen in the dark and distressed “Foreign Fruit.” That ever biting rhythm comes full circle with arguably the funkiest of the offers. “Phase Crush” ducks and dives, melodies blurring with aggressive distortion. Yet there is something more to the equation, a sliding harmony that will keep you coming back again and again.

Unsurprisingly, this is a quality release. Morphology are part of a new generation responsible for re-inventing the colder side of electronics, as has Sync 24. Low Pass Gateway is emblematic of their achievements. Distance, diverse and deep.

Low Pass Gateway is available on Cultivated Electronics.