- Between Vantage Point under his electro alias Versalife, and the Conforce LP Kinetic Image, Boris Bunnik's discography has been getting ever bleaker. Almost too bleak, in fact—there is only so much mileage in his frosty, emotionally monochrome landscapes. Bunnik's younger Hexagon alias is cut from much the same cloth as his main projects. But last year's Red Shift EP afforded him a chance to stray further from the dance floor, its baleful downtempo and beatless explorations sounding like the forlorn chirruping of machines drifting through space.
Its follow-up, also on Bunnik's Transcendent label, feels more substantial, though it isn't a radical change in outlook. "Absentum" could be a Conforce offcut, its pointillist techno groove framing a single synth line that unfurls with languorous grace. "Spectral Analysis" rumbles along like distant Drexciyan thunder in the manner of a Versalife track. Elsewhere there are more unusual delights. Opener "Forecasts" is an excellent bit of kitschy sci-fi pomp, and closer "Illuminated Atoms" could be boogie, if boogie hailed from the coldest reaches of the cosmos. Loping slow-mo techno number "Physical Dimension" is almost sultry, propelled by its pinprick hi-hats and the judicious application of a 303. At this point Bunnik's chops are indisputable, but perhaps he ought to come in from the cold.
TracklistA1 Forecasts
A2 Absentum
A3 Spectral Analysis
B1 Physical Dimension
B2 Illuminated Atoms