Outland

Having moved beyond the colorful hybrids of dubstep, juke, and jungle that made up his discography until 2015, Alan Mysons work as Ital Tek since 2016s Hollowed has been much darker and more isolated, filled with cinematic suspense and immaculate sound design. 2020 full-length Outland is yet more reflective than the producers previous two albums, composed after the birth of his first child, as well as his relocation from the city of Brighton, England, to a more secluded locale. He hasnt returned to making club music, but Outland is a bit more rhythmic and bass-heavy than his previous two albums. Theres a much sharper bite to the way he uses distortion here, and the tracks with beats sound monstrous. Deadhead is a big, scaly beast prowling through the dystopian wreckage, and Bladed Terrain is a similar sort of booming bass mutation with an elevated sense of paranoia. Diamond Child has a slower, more measured pulse but gradually becomes washed out with hazy, psychedelic textures that sound like fuzz-drenched flutes. Leaving the Grid is one last look back at the civilized world before turning to a more privatized space, with flares of distortion resembling momentary flashes of memories. The stuttering beats and twinkling, spiraling melodies of Endless feel like a nervous heartbeat and sense of uneasiness as one prepares for a new stage of life, and the albums final track, a piece of haunted cyber-trap called Oblivion Theme, is at once a bittersweet goodbye and a new beginning. ~ Paul Simpson