Sandwell District — End Beginnings (The Point of Departure Recording Co.)
As Resident Advisor recently outlined in the group’s first interview since a tempestuous unraveling more than a decade ago, Sandwell District was the definitive po-faced techno collective at the turn of the 2010s, an unrivaled, shapeshifting monolith committed to white labels and a distinctive visual aesthetic and one titanic mission statement of an album — but between the redlining excesses of its two most visible members, Karl O’Conner (aka Regis) and Dave Sumner (Function), the monolith couldn’t last. Sumner’s abrupt no-show for a 2013 London gig put the institution to rest seemingly for good — until the 2023 re-release of Feed-Forward and the unexpected announcement of a compilation called Where Next? in January 2024. Two days after that announcement, Sandwell’s third member, Silent Servant’s Juan Mendez, was dead. The question hung uneasily in the balance.
What we could only infer at that time was the group’s three protagonists (minus Peter Sutton, aka Female, forever the most removed member) were already working toward an official reformation that would culminate in new material. The results of those sessions are now out in the world as End Beginnings, fittingly named for a piece of art Mendez was working on at the time of his death. Cutting through the grief (though not the shock, notably) of Juan’s death, O’Connor and Sumner have gifted listeners with another study in how to make serious club music.
Though Silent Servant doesn’t receive any credit for the music herein, the dynamic of the record’s production wasn’t an insular affair. Stuck at an impasse with the material, O’Connor and Sumner opted to hand the reins over to Sandwell associates Mika Hallbäck (aka Rivet) and Simon Shreeve (Mønic) to close things out. Add in additional credits from Rrose and Sarah Wreath, and it’s not just the credits that look different — the tracklist frequently breaks free from expected techno convention.
“Citrinitas Acid” is the most prominent example. Its acid-infused sci-fi atmosphere is the least like the District these guys have ever sounded, a mid-tempo electro number akin more to Drexciya than anything on Feed-Forward. “Hidden,” which follows it directly toward the end of the record, also smacks of hard-hitting acid by way of Berlin warehouse, though the twinkling videogame-esque breakdown nestled in the middle adds an unusual twist. Escalating mood piece “Least Travelled” feels like a movie score instrumental for dying in the desert. On the other side of the tracklist, the broken beats of opener “Dreaming” and “Will You Be Safe?” display a willingness to experiment with rhythms beyond a strict 4/4. There are still songs here with all the hallmarks of a classic Sandwell cut (“Self-Initiate” thumps mercilessly with its UFO synth pulses and “Restless” could slip right in the middle of a live set), but they are the exception rather than the rule.
The cascading glissandos of “The Silent Servant” act as a fitting tribute to its namesake and a fine finish to the album on a whole. It also serves to reopen the question posed by the compilation that precedes it. By their own admission, O’Connor and Sumner considered Mendez the glue that bound Sandwell together. What will the institution be without its glue now? The eight songs presented here suggest that whatever that is will be a definitive break from before — but it will be. The Beginnings is the End is the beginning.
