- Sharp Veins is an outlier. His early grime-influenced cuts earned him a place in the experimental club scene, but he doesn't have much in common with it anymore. He's patient (this is his first record in two years), doesn't care much for dance floor dynamics and admires composers more than producers. bleeds colors and puddles only emphasizes these outsider qualities. The New York artist made his own synths for the new EP, which gives it a painstaking level of detail. Taking the palette of experimental club music—skittery drums, thick synthetic textures, bright melodies—and sending it through what sounds like a million different processes, bleeds colors and puddles is a dense record that builds on Inbox Island, his last EP, in unexpected ways.
Some styles on bleeds colors and puddles are more recognizable than others. The bright filaments of synth on "grayer shadows meld" recall artists like Dark0, but the textures are squishy and thick. Sharp Veins delights in pulling apart the sounds he generates and revealing the granular makeup beneath. The results can be ugly ("wave cut"), pretty ("empty") or both at once ("bye," which pairs a violent kick drum with a cutesy melody). On "learn boxing miami," the EP's most straightforward track, he uses what sounds like a cough as the main percussive device.
bleeds colors and puddles feels less of-the-moment than Inbox Island, but it's also less predictable than its predecessor. Only the sluggish opening track, "burnished purple," is anything less than captivating. It's a collection of experiments that pushes Sharp Veins further from conventional club music.
Tracklist01. burnished purple
02. grayer shadows meld
03. learn boxing miami
04. bye
05. wave cut
06. empty