Review Summary: LFG
The success of any given drum and bass release can be measured in party sets and hearty sweats. gyrofield is no stranger to such humid climes—their rapid rise to scene stardom can be charted through energetic live shows that traverse a fairly small catalogue of music across a rather large variety of genre influences. While cross-pollination isn't rare in, well, any scene anymore, drum and bass' fundamental elements thrive with very little variation; to stray is to risk less sweat amidst the sweltering throng, which means more piss breaks and an empty dance floor.
Worry not, for gyrofield is a dance floor filler, a perpetrator of mass perspiration whose mastery of the discipline also allows them to be a true maverick. Their ear for subtlety and tendency towards progression shares as much DNA with IDM as with DnB. Their SFX are like THX on BZP with bass throbs filthy enough to set off your IBS. TMI? As such, this isn't just music for fans of LSD, MDMA, and JD & Coke; this is also one for the introverts, the acronymisers—the great washed and homebound shall rave contemporaneously with their dirtier, outgoing counterparts, and sweat shall moisten club and home alike.
Which, uh, TBF, has actually kinda been the case since way back when. While the genre's current commercial success is largely rooted in sparsely arranged dancebait, its origins and development are much more colourful. Compared to the scope of some of the exemplary (and lengthy!) releases of the 90s, A Faint Glow Of Bravery's snappy 37-minute runtime offers just a brief excursion into a world in which one could spend some serious time. Its bookends showcase its most unique soundscapes on this front, being much more adventurous in their emoting through their lively vocal sampling and tight progressions. The tracks betwixt are beyond serviceable, perhaps even great if you're looking to curate a soundtrack for a WipEout-esque future racer (shout out to my lesser-known Rollcage homies), but are more suggestive of genre mastery than ambitious artistry.
Regardless, this snappy and transportive release holds up to many a revisit, and is another triumphant step forward from one of the field's most promising prospects. If gyrofield's genre-curious explorations paint more convincing and extensive landscapes on subsequent releases, I can envision hard ravers and club haters alike losing themselves for nights at a time in their otherworldly sonicspheres. Until then, we wait, we hope, we listen, we sweat.
