Bleep

Bicep, the production duo of Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar, have long been one of the most consistent acts in electronic music. Ever since they first emerged around the beginning of the 2010s the pair have served up a steady churn of sweeping, evocative dancefloor cuts.

‘Atlas’, the first Bicep single since 2018, is the sort of casual club epic that Ferguson and McBriar have got down to a fine art. From the opening seconds we know that we are in for a hugely emotive listen - sweeping, thousand-yard synths and a looped wordless vocal sets the scene while a skittering drum beats limbers up, ready to kick into action at any moment.

The track soon blooms into a sunset dancefloor jam that Bicep, along with the likes of Four Tet, Jamie xx and Bonobo, have built their house on. It's an altogether subtler affair than some of their previous work, its wistful keyboard pads and slippery modular loops fading in and out over a warm bassline. We’re also detecting a little of Thom Yorke’s electronic experiments in the makeup of ‘Atlas’ - there’s certainly a tension similar to Yorke LPs like ANIMA and The Eraser in the way that the synth tones rub together with the drums here.

Bicep make a triumphant return to the dancefloor with new single ‘Atlas’.