Review Summary: Dark, dystopian soundscapes built from dub-soaked tribal rhythms
Both London-based Loxy, known for his dark, dub-infused D&B, and Finland’s Resound, with his tech-heavy production, have been part of the drum and bass underground for over two decades. They have worked together on several singles and remixes over the last three years, including “Vertigo” on the excellent Exit Records’ compilation,
Mosaic: Volume One. Burning Shadows, also released through dBridge's Exit Records, follows the tradition forward-thinking, progressive drum and bass music that the label has come to be known for.
This LP exists in a different sphere to the club-based sound usually associated with drum and bass, exploring deeper, more experimental environments. Loxy & Resound have taken elements of our technology-dependent society, sounds of interference, error and glitch, and woven them into rhythmic patterns layered with deep ragga-tinted drum tracks and rumbling sub-bass. The influence of both artists can be felt as heavy bass lines are punctuated by sudden electronic stabs, giving the tracks an unpredictability that contrasts with the precise drum loops and technical production.
Opener “Celestial March” serves as blueprint for what lies ahead as percussion built entirely of clicks and fuzz, reminiscent of a modem's electronic handshake, and gives the track a floating, otherworldly tension. This tension is never really released even after the huge drop about a minute into “Depth Excess”, as packets of dub-soaked bass are sent shuddering through your speakers, synths slithering up from the depths before vanishing again. The bleak, cold soundscapes continue on “Black Hole” as half-time bass overrides a glitchy loop of electronic interference. In the closest that this album comes to a single, the insect-like distorted voice samples of “Sin City” bubble up through dirty sub-bass. The scattered snares of “Fall” serve to further add tension to its space-horror film sound, while “Thin Ice” hems closer to more traditional drum and bass. The female vocals on the reworked “Vertigo Revisted” come like a ray of warmth to the bleak dystopian environment from which you emerge bringing the album to a satisfying conclusion.
Burning Shadows sits alongside label mate Consequence's
Live for Never and dBridge's
The Gemini Principle as one of a crop of albums pushing the boundaries of what drum and bass encompasses. Aesthetically it is closer to something like Boris'
Flood in its ability to take the listener on a journey across the length of the album, in this case one of William Gibson-esque dystopian tendencies. While many of their contemporaries are producing increasingly mainstream sounds replete with vocal hooks and bright melodies, Loxy and Resound have delivered an album that presents a different future for the genre, one that is deeper, colder and much more exhilarating.
