Bleep

We haven’t heard anything quite like this since Ryuichi Sakamoto’s 80s jagged dance pieces, tied with the resourceful sci-fi wizardry of electronic pioneers Delia Derbyshire. And yet, the ghostly enigma of E B U stands in a world all her own, threatening to overtake ours via listening ears. Hinge is her debut album, but it sounds like the work of a seasoned pro, like an artist spirited away from pop by experimental impulses, a cybernetic Scott Walker, dancing circles around melody, ready to parry its hits. You imagine an amalgamated figure composed of electronic music, synthpop, modern classical, ambient — almost any genre you might associate with fearless auteurship. Make no mistake, E B U is all that and more. E B U’s hotly-anticipated debut LP arrives courtesy of No Corner. With Hinge the Bristolian artist claims to have made a record of ‘swamp pop’, and that just might be the most accurate description for this highly unusual set of avant-songs. Many of the sounds here are shared with Glasser’s 2010 LP Ring (marimbas, processed vocals, clomping synths) but in E B U’s hands they are melded into a bold amalgam of avant-garde electronics, droning ambient and ultra-leftfield r ‘n’ b. File next to the recent records released by the Slip imprint - particularly Joe Snape’s Joyrobix - as well as Björk and Radiohead’s mid-period experiments.