Stratosphere EP

Stratosphere EP is a collaborative project involving Stormfield (AV artist, half of Fausten and Sea of Scald, boss of Combat Recordings) and new label signing Nonima (Section 27).

Tam Ferrans aka. Nonima has kept popping up on the radar in recent years as one of the most interesting and prolific electronic producers around. Unique in his ability to effortlessly traverse the dancefloor / abstract listening divide, Nonima's forward-thinking, deeply introspective music has been released alongside Plaid, Autechre, Funckarma and more, and has long been supported by Combat, featuring heavily on the label's Sub FM and Rinse FM radio shows.

It only was a matter of time before they got in touch, leading to remixes (Collapsing System) and releases (Monolith) on Combat. The pair have also collaborated on Section 27 (Sea Ice, Acid Recarpeted) and Acre Recordings (Dissensus remix).

Stratosphere, unlike their previous collaborations, began with the most basic of parts, literally a couple of strings and beats swapped back and forth, each person responding intuitively adding hardware jams, digital trickery and a tonne of minute sound design details.

Themed around technology and nature with lightning storms as their main inspiration, the EP winds it's way through 5 startlingly varied, acid-drenched tracks laden with epic, wistfully melancholic stringwork, hinting at the influences like Deaf Centre and Autechre in equal measure. Sleek, mechanoid beat patterns shift and morph from peak-time physical attack mode to glitched-out machine malfunction, especially evident in "First Light", "Rolling Thunder", where frenzied drumwork contrasts with the slow pads to give an impression of being suspended weightless amidst rapid movement. Meanwhile, "Point Clouds" is a beast of an acid electro track which builds up to what sounds like a series of precise, controlled explosions and bassline pounding. "Distant Thunder" and "Northern Lights" feel like a beautiful calm after the fury.

This is Combat's first release since it's epic 10 year compilation last year, which spanned the labels hard-hitting history with the slew of all-star artists such as Milanese , Scorn, Ontal and more. Stratosphere sees the label steering left yet again, this time into the realm of abstract glitchy electronics. It should come as no surprise, as Autechre has always been one of the labels huge influences, equally as much as jungle and dark electro.