Bandshell made an impressive entrance to the world stage last year with his debut EP on Hessle, the most skewed look at the dancefloor that the label has taken yet. Working a spare and noisy palette and a paranoid tension between the woozy and the surgical it found a neat fit alongside the likes of Elgato and Joe in the Hessle roster while inviting comparisons reaching further afield into IDM and techno territory.
For his second release Mute’s Liberation Technologies, which has so far played host to Lauren Halo in her King Felix guise (a beauty of an EP if you haven’t checked it) and British Murder Boys’ triumphant reunion, seems like an even better fit, comfortably accommodating Bandshell’s darker and less dance-friendly mores without pushing them into chin-strokey abstraction.
Out of the gates the barking drums and uptight syncopation of opener 'Winton' seem to be shouting about grime, but the feel is something else. Aggy bombast and forward energy are twisted inwards into a steely self-restraining precision. Everything is very placed – the distortion and compression are invasive but left stark and not smeared on; even the background noise has its own fine detail of texture. The lack of real development or expansion through the track only feeds into this weird straight-jacket tension, creating with rare efficiency a powerful and distinctive atmosphere. There’s a feeling of poker-faced yet subtly menacing intent, of something held back even as the surface punches hard, that gives the track a remarkable depth for something so outwardly simple and dutifully rewards repeated listens.
On a different vibe, 'Perc' (already given a notable airing on Ben UFO’s Fabriclive mix) also capitalises on its restraint, investing fully in the maudlin warm/cold atmosphere of its melody, teased out the with little more than a shimmer of delay. Again it is the simple but sharp details - from the way the compression-buffeted hiss cuts in and out becomes an articulated gesture rather than a lazy filler to the neat corners of the diamond-cut bassline - that raise it far above many forgettable washouts that attempt the same synthy darkside bliss.
Flipside, 'Nice Mullet. (which comes across something like 'Dust March' pt.2) goes most direct to the dancefloor, riding hollowed out bass stabs and heavy subs and finding a clunky bloodshot groove. The track loses focus though, becoming a little cluttered and meandering into an abrupt close that leaves it feeling a tad sketch-like, though still a worthwhile inclusion.
While it doesn’t quite match the A side tracks for classiness of execution, closer 'Landfill' is in some ways the most interesting cut: there’s still an eye on the ‘nuum in those buzzing synths and lumbering drums, but they lean just as much towards the recent output of Powell and his post-punk and industrial reference points. Indeed the concrete complexion and acute ear for shades of noise across the whole EP connect strongly to a British lineage outside of dance music.
That such a young producer can draw together so much into a set of tracks that feels so fresh and un-contrived is remarkable, but its doubly exciting in that it opens up some common ground between the UK’s rediscovered industrial bent and the dark & stark dubstep and grime-harking sound being pushed by the likes of Beneath, Wen, and the Livity Sound crew. It seems fitting that Hessle, who first introduced us to Blawan, should have now ushered in a talent able to close some of the gaps left by his departure into more stomping climes.
It may be a fringe release, and one that won’t have an easy place in many DJs’ crates but this EP speaks of exciting and healthy times for UK music, whatever the UK-bass-bemoaning naysayers might say. More of this please.
