Volte-Face - Charlatan EP

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  • A long-time DJ and party promoter, London resident Casper Clark debuted his production chops at the start of this year, reworking Daniel Avery's "Platform Zero" into an industrial churn wrapped in stardust. Charlatan, his first release as Volte-Face, holds tight to those rugged techno ideas, but discards luminescence in favor of an ashen haze. It's becoming of each production's steely demeanor, even as it renders the EP a bit bloodless. Clark seems most interested in making Charlatan a wellspring of deep soundscapes. You can tell from the opaque reverb each track soaks in, the attention Clark gives his noxious backdrops, and how every rhythmic and melodic component is arranged to draw you further into the fog. "Sine Qua Non" accomplishes this using a blippy, minimal beat and the slightest suggestion of synth, something "IXAXAAR" revisits with bolder drums. Clark makes better use of the conceit when his energy and arsenal are on full blast. "Until The Light Comes" (and its remix by Roll The Dice's Peder Mannerfelt) gets to the point hard and fast, a directness that gives a typically moody techno cut some needed thrust. Beatless and erratic, the title track closes the record appropriately. Having waded through grey textures, it only makes sense to arrive at the nebulous murk that acts as the EP's life force.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Until The Light Takes Us A2 Sine Qua Non B1 IXAXAAR B2 Until The Light Takes Us (Taken Lightly By Peder Mannerfelt) B3 Charlatan
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