Expanse E.P.

Combat boss Stormfield and Section 27 head Nonima release their second joint EP, Expanse. 6 tracks of deep bass, intricate acid and glitch-tinged electro.

Track 1. Expanse
The EP starts with the title track, originally written as a submission for a sci-fi documentary piece which didn't happen; the music sat on a hard drive and got reworked over winter, taking the shape of heavy, pulsing, warmly melodic electro with rising rushes of melody and wistful stringwork, playing off each other in counter harmonies.

Track 2. Airlock
Airlock takes things in a more acidy direction, with a simple, insistent 303 riff squelching nestled in the core of the track, while all around it clank the angular, mechanical rhythms of components shifting and sliding into place, the fizzy digital chatter of computer systems recalibrating, the bassy hum of engines coming to life.

Track 3. Caesura
Caesura took shape over christmas when an Elektron Digitone synth was borrowed off a neighbour. To quickly learn the instrument, basic beats were made and jammed to. Recordings of the live jamming were layered to give a narrative of melodies and counter-melodies gradually detuned by hand, rising in pitch and taking on a trippy, chromatically shiny metallic resonance inside a framework of lively, interlocking electro rhythms, precision bleeps and machine chatter.

Track 4. Void
Void takes the pace down to a considered pace, with a profoundly deep, viscous acid line that lazily snakes its way through broody sub-bass and prowling rhythmic arrangements, with bursts of hissing machine noise performed from a pipe synth and reworked into a beat structure. Prowling, restrained and powerful.

Track 5. Caesura pt.2
The melodic elements are stripped out from the original and reworked with juddering, broken techno kickdrums. Enhanced are the rush of bleepy melodies fed through a disorientating maze of delays, and the decay of each note extended until it smears into a hazy, warp-speed blur, shimmering with intricate elements suspended in the weightlessness.

Track 6. Expanse pt.2
The ep closes with Expanse pt. 2, which takes things into a much more minimal direction, more inward-looking and contemplative. Gone are the rush of melodies and soaring strings, in its place is a deep, bass-heavy prowler, resonant metallic particles suspended weightlessly.