Actress

Harrier Attk / Gershwin Actress

With a sound that no one can quite touch, nor classify, it comes as little surprise that an outside-the-box artist like Actress would come into the path of Autonomic. The mastermind behind the cult-worshipped Werk Discs (whose roster includes enigmatic producers Lone, Lukid and Zomby), Actress took the electronic spectrum into another direction entirely last year with 'Splazsh.' Released on Damon Albarn's imprint Honest Jons, 'Splazsh' brought dynamic Hypercolour to the insular greyness that his 'Hazyville' album captured so well. After his acclaimed debut on Nonplus+ in 2010 - the astral 'Machine And Voice' EP, the intriguing artist returns to the label with 'Gershwin / HarrierA bonafide classic to sit in the ranks alongside Cybotron, in comes a typically all-encompassing, textured four-on-the-floor stomper from Actress. A side: 'Gershwin' Conjures the bright metallics and intricate programming of a Ford workshop in a futuristic, sci-fi Detroit, but without the repetitive motion: no two bars are the same, and the track moves through so many colors and sounds it's hard to keep up. Slamming with sharp, piercing lasers, roughly cut beats sit on a building melody that wraps itself around dreamscape New Order esque synths. aa) Actress 'Harrier ATTK' brings back the smoky, blurriness of 'Hazyville,' with an especially hypnotic twist. It's the kind of Actress track that makes a listener lose all sense of time and space: a head nodder that could stay on loop for days, where the smallest subtleties come out loudest. Equal parts sublime and austere, a simple melody loops as a clean bass drum hits gently, and tangible sounds crack in the background.