Autechre: Oversteps
Autechre: Oversteps
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Saturday, 20, Mar 2010 12:29
Warp Records, out now.
Who's it by?
Autechre, hailing from Greater Manchester, are pioneers in their field, producing ten albums, none of which are easy to pigeonhole into a genre - electro is the best I can do.
They occasionally go under aliases, such as Lego Feet, but their real names are Sean Booth and Rob Brown.
What the others say
"Focusing on creating tension and release within their compositions, they're still incorporating new designs, not merely repackaging the previous products." - Patrick Sisson, Pitchfork
"Oversteps has its erratic, car-spinning-out-of-control moments but is nonetheless an enticing 'Welcome' billboard for their sometimes harrowing, often hopeful City Of Sound." - Alex Hoban, NME
So is it any good?
Inscrutability may not be what electro long-time collaborative electro duo Sean Booth and Rob Brown have been going for in their 20 or so years as Autechre, but it is something they have achieved with most of their records. On Oversteps, they refuse to divagate from their always fascinating, rarely accessible oeuvre, yet again producing a record that demands attention from the off.
For the first 30 seconds of this, their tenth LP, the incipient interest stems from silence. Distant noise bubbles and begins to filter through, emerging as an apocalyptic whirring, until synth buzzes grow in prominence and an enveloping sound descends upon the listener. Then, a beat, one with an insane time signature and hinting the CD could in fact be skipping, but a beat nonetheless. From then on in, it is down to the listener to discern the detail, each new sound, each ephemeral moment of melody, each tweak and every switch of direction. Not just for this opener, but for the remaining 13 tunes as well.
Second track, ilanders, is far more brutal than the ethereal opener, with rumbling bass synth and menacing sonic slashes, but the formula is the same: never do the obvious, always look to surprise. A listener with plenty of patience will be rewarded by Autechre's subtle shifts, their constant attention to each and every second of each song. While it may often sound like chaos, it is clear that Autechre spend a considerable amount of time painstakingly constructing every tune. It simply wouldn't work otherwise.
At points, it can be tempting to turn away. Like the stressed school kid trying to cram in too much information in before an exam, the level of concentration required for listening to Autechre can be daunting. Of course, deep inside the kid knows that putting in the hours will most likely pay off and, in this analogy, it is certainly worth the time.
Oversteps demands return listens as well. While there is no zenith on the album, with its stubborn spikiness and disregard for hooks or distinct melody, as a whole, it is one complex beast that deserves to be taken on by listeners tired of being pandered to.
8/10
Thomas Brewster