- The initial Latency sound, showcased on well-regarded EPs from house artists Joey Anderson and Even Tuell, was already deep. But the Parisian label has kept casting its line deeper, arriving in a place where the terrestrial logic of dance floor music dissolves into something more confusing. Releases this year, from Burnt Friedman and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, have set the stage for Bellow, an Italian duo who have been fitfully active for a decade. On their last record, 2015's Rustl for Boomkat Editions, their music's deep sea qualities were obvious.
Sander lacks that record's uncanny, dub-like spatial distortions. In places, its subtle blend of tape loops and analogue electronics sounds straightforward. The A2 has a steady pulse, outlined by a muffled kick drum and something approximating a bassline. Over the top, smears of chords gleam ambiguously. On the B1 that pulse slows to a sombre crawl, which fades in slowly under baleful foghorn blasts. The rhythm seems to be fraying at the edges. It unravels further on the closing track, where an assortment of looped sounds—a plucked guitar string here, a machine-like beep there—cycle unevenly. All of these tracks are delicate and engrossing, but the EP's best do away with rhythm to float freely. The A1's stately pulsing chords echo the serene mood of classical minimalism. More mysterious is the B2, over whose four-and-a-half minutes a single burnished chord ripples like fish scales catching sunlight.
TracklistA1 Untitled 1
A2 Untitled 2
B1 Untitled 3
B2 Untitled 4
B3 Untitled 5