Bleep

Ekoplekz's album Unfidelity, released earlier in 2014 on Planet Mu, is an incredible album: rich, detailed and showcasing a strong and clearly defined experimental aesthetic. He has now quickly followed up that release with a brand new full-length, and it's definitely the equal of that first album - perhaps even the more intriguing of the two. Four Track Mind could be seen as a companion piece to Unfidelity, and much of the music was recorded at the same time as the tracks on that first album. Overall though, its a very different kind of trip. If Unfidelity was the sound of the Bristolian electronic experimenter refining his frazzled aesthetic into a series of tightly wound tracks, Four Track Mind is him cutting loose. The fractured hisses and bristling palpitations created through analogue tape manipulation touch on a wider palette of moods. 'Tantrikz' is a tranquillised unravelling of popping noise and mystic drones, while the bold synth washes of 'Reflekzive' carry a kind of sci-fi grandness. On 'Dvectif' nervous, stuttering rhythms overlap with unsettling effect, and the warm undertones of 'Teak' and 'Fourtm' add a pastoral, psychedelic quality to his electronic contortions. There is a lot to dig into here, and different moments are sure to spark interest with every new listen. Four Track Mind is less straightforward than its predecessor, but arguably the more rewarding listen.