Albion Collective mark their second release with man like Taiko for a more gritty, aggressive outlook this time around, in sharp contrast to Vaun’s bedroom eyes mentality of their first release. Coming with three tracks of worldly percussion freakouts, sublime bassweight and a refined melodic sense, ALBION002 is a great addition to a burgeoning label.
A-side “Splinted” soars with Middle Eastern strings and hand drum triplet rolls that sounds like the beginning of something Gantz would make, but as the forward momentum of the sub careens onward, things become more jagged as plate reverb threatens to consume the entire beast whole. The Middle Eastern ouds (maybe?) return and cavort as dancers around a fire.
Next is the offset rhythmic pivots of “Fractal”. Armed with slivers and flecks of jazzy chord progressions that shadowbox with themselves between the randomized melodies of wind-chimes, while down below hearing range the bass rattles your eye sockets and gives you arrhythmia.
Lastly, “Nickel” hits all the right spots with its percussive acrobatics, a Sufi dancer in action as a near constant barrage of varying percussive elements spin out from the center. The back half is utter tribalist mystic absorption with the divine, deployed at the right time and on the right system and the dance will be yours!
ALBION002 will be released January 29th and is now available to pre-order from AC’s Bandcamp, Unearthed Sounds, Redeye and White Peach Records.
