- The last release from CYPHR, June's Girl Shake EP, marked him out as the most introverted member of South London's Her collective. Even where Night Slugs-style percussion came into play—as in the title track—it was offset by solemn synth work borrowed from Darkstar circa North. The results weren't hugely arresting, but as is the case with Her cohorts Miss Modular and Sudanim, who have both turned out storming EPs in recent months, CYPHR appears to have entered 2014 with fresh purpose.
"Brace" is a deconstructed techno banger, all grandiose horns and lacerating claps—in other words, about as far from navel-gazing as you can get. As with his labelmates, the tightly reverbed percussion, fractured chords and Jersey-ish kick patterns owe a debt to Night Slugs. But its widescreen audacity is CYPHR's alone—try riding out that pumped-up breakdown without getting tingles. "Gloss Finish" is a scattier beast. The scraps of melodic matter—terse synth arps a la Jam City, snippets of glossy vocal—take a while to settle into a hook, and when they do the effect isn't quite as rousing as the A. Still, the controlled chaos of the thing is entertainment enough.
Tracklist01. Brace
02. Gloss Finish