- When I read that SFV Acid's first LP of all new material was recorded at a Starbucks, my thoughts immediately turned to another LA-area artist, Tokimonsta, whose RA's podcast was also born at an outpost of the Seattle latte giant. Tokimonsta, who produces and performs with Ableton Live, probably didn't look out of place among the freelancers and budding novelists seated around her. Zane Reynolds wouldn't have blended in so well: a hardware buff, he must have been an odd sight with his gear spread out, gobbling up power outlets and pushing puzzled baristas to the very limit of their "five star legendary service."
Odd is SFV Acid's home court, though. And while you can't imagine his music making it onto Starbucks' in-store playlist, his strangely mundane vibe somehow fits. "I pick out the weird stuff, and I tend to cling onto it," he explained in a recent documentary short, and the best tracks in his growing discography invite us to do the same. His twitchy basslines and smog-filtered melodies sound normal enough at first, but get weirder the more you listen, like someone's slipped a little something into your caramel macchiato. He sounds as peculiar as ever on The Dwell, but also more confident and musical. It's unquestionably his strongest and most complete work to date.
As on Neighborhood Archives, his debut on UNO from last fall, The Dwell ties up slivers of electro and acid into compact dance-not-dance tracks. This time, though, they unfold into something more fully formed upon playback. On the opening track "Dwell Master Infinite," Reynolds sounds surprisingly elastic, bouncing between drum patterns as he completely ignores the seasickness of his chord progression. It's packed with energy—hyperactivity, almost—in a way that his ultra-laid-back early tracks weren't. Reynolds is still willing to let things breathe, though, with slinky cuts like "Money" and "Mocha" embracing the wooziness of their mixed-up melodies. "Chronicled In C_affeine Headache," an uncharacteristically lush four-minute fissure in Reynolds' signature sound, does away with the beat altogether. From beginning to end, The Dwell presents Reynolds' sound without much of the hiss and grime of his first few releases. The result is a greater clarity of voice. And when you're given a window into a very different way of looking at the world, a little directness goes a long way.
Tracklist01. Dwell Master Infinite
02. Misto
03. PT Sex
04. Devonshire Dwell: New Graceland
05. Mocha
06. 2PART
07. Kludes
08. Mecca_Bucks
09. Money
10. Fresh and Easy
11. Chronicled In C:affeine Headache
12. Sha Day
13. Dwell on 2
14. T.E.M.P gun