- Grind isn't the debut album we might've expected from DJ Richard. The former noise-head's previous releases, for his own White Material label, pointed in a more boisterous direction. But with his first solo release for Dial, Richard has turned his gaze from Berlin's landlocked club scene towards the coastline of his native Rhode Island. Grind explores his interest in "the border between civilization and the ocean," and features tracks like "Savage Coast," whose subtle synth layers fold over one another like lapping waves. As with most of Grind, the track's beauty isn't in question, but its effect is ambiguous: sometimes relaxing, sometimes unsettling.
Richard's new approach to house is to smooth it down and pare it back. On highlight "Nighthawk," the synths wheel like mournful seabirds over crisp, carefully syncopated drums. Beneath it all is a single held chord, a placeholder for the album's mood of steady perseverance. Richard's forays into drone, on stately numbers like "No Balance" and "Ejected," compound this feeling.
The risk of such restraint is boredom, and Grind does sometimes take on the more negative implications of its title. "Screes Of Grey Craig," for instance, is a bit lacklustre, though its materials are only fractionally different from those of its better companions. A zoomed-in view of Grind often reveals flat, almost inert textures. It takes a broader perspective to see the album's charms, and they're ample. Grind gets more compelling as it runs, and more so still with each repeated play.
Some track titles reference the optical phenomenon of the "green flash," in which a green light can be briefly seen at sunset on an unobstructed horizon (like, for instance, one observed over a body of water). "Waiting For The Green Flash" and "I-Mir" (meaning inferior mirage) find Richard at his most withdrawn. They prepare the album for its own green flashes—moments of surprising beauty that puncture the austere surface. There's the sparkling arps of "Bane," and, better still, closer "Vampire (Dub)," whose ambrosial chords provide a wash of light after 45 minutes of overcast skies. In keeping with Richard's newfound style, both tracks loop serenely at length. In Grind's deeper sense of time, they feel like they're over all too soon.
Tracklist01. No Balance
02. Nighthawk
03. Waiting For The Green Flash
04. Savage Coast
05. Screes Of Gray Craig
06. Bane
07. I-Mir
08. Ejected
09. Vampire (Dub)