Part of our Albums of the Year 2016
Following countless seminal releases that have seen Mark Pritchard through his various groups and pseudonyms, constantly propel himself forward into new areas of experimentation, Under The Sun marks his return to the production limelight by weaving traces from his vast array of previous projects together to produce a record that pushes his sound forward, in to something that sounds quite unlike anything he has put his name (or alias) to before.
His Harmonic 313 beats, Link acid, Global Communication ambience, and Africa HiTech rhythms all glimmer throughout, but the overall direction of this record is rooted in the realms of modern composition, traditional folk and soundtrack-heavy incidental music.
Tracks like Give It Your Choir (featuring fellow Warp artist Bibio) take on softly spun psychedelia whilst Infared is an industrial drum machine roller that has a Krautrock edge that brings to mind the work of Faust. You Wash My Soul, recorded with folk artist Linda Perhacs could be a lost Susan Christie side, and Beautiful People featuring Thom Yorke stands as one of the finest tracks in his discography yet.
Under The Sun is a perfectly crafted sonic composition from Mark Pritchard that is encouraged by the artist himself to be listened to from start to finish in its entirety, and after being hypnotised by this record time and time again, we wholeheartedly agree, and encourage you to put aside 67 minutes of your time, and listen.
