Timeproof

Ital Teks work since 2016s incredible Hollowed has moved in an increasingly cinematic direction, farther away from the more club-friendly dubstep/juke hybrids of his past releases. This has coincided with the producers relocation away from the city of Brighton, U.K., to a more secluded location, in addition to his raising a family. Timeproof is his first album produced since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its inspired by the blurring of time spent in the studio, in nature, and in lockdown. He spent a year putting raw ideas to tape, then another refining these sounds while revisiting and incorporating older material. Opening track "Phantom Pain" has all the makings of the beginning of an epic, with hissing waves of distortion joined by a prowling beat and jagged synth melodies, followed by a more spacious outro. While this track could be an ideal accompaniment to a dark adventure game, "The Mirror" brings the album closer to an imagined soundtrack for an X-Files-like sci-fi series, with choppy arpeggios erupting into a rippling blaze, then booming bass giving the track a staggered motion. "One Eye Open" is haunted by the voices of unseen beings or forces trapped behind a wall, and "Heart String" is a slow, melancholy crawl back to a barely remembered part of the past. "Darking" significantly picks up the pace, with a trancey pulse navigating through a hall of mirrors, and "Zero Point" spikes this mood with a bit more urgency. After that, the rhythms evaporate, with "The Next Time You Die" containing disembodied voices popping up inside a vast, misty cavern, and "Timeproof" providing one final bittersweet reflection during the waning moments of a storm. ~ Paul Simpson

ジューク/フットワークと共にプラネット・ミューから現れたブライトンの鬼才による3年ぶり8作目。往年のビート主体なサウンドメイクはすっかり影を潜め、幾重にも重なったシンセサイザーから成る幻想的なサウンドスケープが印象的だ。冒頭の"Phantom Pain"でのスローモーな立ち上がりや"Darking"で飛び出すトランシーな展開など、空間を司る手綱捌きは見事。
bounce (C)野村有正