DIVA’s debut EP for New Kanada last year was shrouded in a veil of carefully cultivated secrecy; though it’s since been revealed as an alias of Matt Didemus, stepping out from his usual role as one half of the Canadian duo Junior Boys.
Those involved obviously enjoyed the dash of mystique around the project, painting the new Omni EP as "inspired by black hole thermodynamics". Cryptic descriptions aside, it’s a pleasingly dark and sinister collection of tunes that all draw together with a common thread of dancefloor appeal.
Omni deals in harsh, robotic soundscapes and gritty electro aesthetics, and the title track is the most sprawling of them all; reveling somewhat in a manic split personality that’s equally inspired by tough techno, and the dubby soundscapes of bass music. And it’s the latter that opens the track, the wail of the machines met by grindy excursion into dubstep rhythm. That’s before its big synth stabs signal a shift into more conventional techno for the latter part of the record.
Siren To Siren is equally brimming with robotic noise, though it quickly establishes a clubby pulse that channels the spirit of early industrial dance; given a futuristic lick of paint here.
Chronos is also inspired by the harsh electro sounds of a bygone era, keeping things cold and distant to the absolute max. Like the rest of the EP though, eventually it reigns things in for the sake of offering a functional dancefloor experience; sonically in tune with the techno of today. You can feel the vibrant energy here of Didemus taking his sound down a different path. Gritty, visceral and exciting.
| Artist: DIVA Title: Omni EP Label: New Kanada Tracklist Omni (with pitto)Siren To SirenChronos Our rating: 8.5/10 |  |
No comments:
Post a Comment