Bleep

Upon announcing Bogdan Raczynski’s first new album in fifteen years, Planet Mu took care in noting that the Polish-American producer’s return finds him in a “zen-like place of peace.” Bearing in mind that “zen-like” can be a fairly fluid descriptor, Raczynski sure has a fascinating way of expressing inner peace.

Coming up in the early ‘00s movement of drill n’ bass, which found braindance producers putting jungle and hardcore influences into a headlock, Raczynski established a reputation for his high-octane, unhinged sound. With a renewed interest in his career on the heels of 2019’s career-compiling Rave ‘Till You Cry, ADDLE is a markedly more minimalist return from a producer that doesn’t seem to care much for laurel-resting or rehashing the old days.

Still, from the opening blips and reverb-drenched chorus of vocals on ‘LADDE,’ it’s clear this is a record that thrums with anxious energy underneath its surface. According to Raczynski, ADDLE took shape in the realization that calmness is born from knowing its inverse and that “real growth happens in turbulence.” There’s certainly a fair deal of both turbulence and stunning clarity captured across the album, from the chopped-up yet transfixing disorder of ‘DLEDA’ to the all-out robotic freakout on ‘LDDAE.’ And yet, the promise of some peace feels attainable in the album’s latter half. 'ADLDE' is arguably the album’s most dancefloor-ready moment, while its ten-minute closer ‘ALDDE’ takes sweet time to order itself into a quasi-deep house groove before ending the album with rain sounds.

While not likely to become anyone’s go-to guided meditation soundtrack, ADDLE makes for a compelling (although slightly unnerving) journey towards a calmer existence.