NIGHT SEA
Still (Silent Season)
Canada’s Silent Season label puts out some of the most forward-thinking dub-ambient-techno concoctions around. Still is another fine example, the debut long-player from Americans David Grunzweig & Johan Ismael aka Night Sea. It’s lush and haunting dub techno with steady, muted drum patterns and ghostly drones swimming in a cloudy sonic soup. Like all the best dub techno it’s a sophisticated mix of stasis and change; every piece glides along a predetermined track of just one major or minor chord, but offset with continuing subtle shifts in texture and reverberating fragments of melody. This is completely immersive stuff despite the beats – or perhaps because of them. When the club comes to dub, strange and trippy things happen.
Best Albums of 2020 Reviews Index
