- For a while, Ivo Pacheco looked intent on joining rave's swelling funeral procession. But, lacking the close ties with UK rave culture binding artists like The Caretaker and Lee Gamble, this Portuguese artist seemed drawn more to the broader themes implied by the style: death and rebirth, loss and mourning, the sweet tug of nostalgia. These qualities continue to pervade Pacheco's latest EP as IVVVO, on which he further refines the heavy-hearted tape-techno aesthetic he's made his own.
If anything, Pacheco cuts things back too much here—the twinkly melodies of the Future EP are largely absent, as is the ravey energy of Light Moving. What's left is a fogged, rather nondescript sort of techno, attractive but often frustratingly vague. Vivid moments, like the pungent synth loop at the opening of "Fear," lose their shine when the drums kick in and the compressor starts pumping. "So Much" promises Madteo-style stuttering loop-science, but again, its staid percussion holds it back. If there's character in these tracks it's to be found in their voices, distant reverberant moans that function as beacons in the drabness. Often they supply a sorely needed hint of melody. But only on "Consumed," whose Burial-style bedroom diva wanders over a charred landscape, does IVVVO provoke genuine pathos.
TracklistA1 Closer
A2 Redux
A3 Consumed
B1 Repetition feat. Infinity Frequencies
B2 Fear
B3 So Much
B4 End