- Bruno Deodato is a ManMakeMusic regular, but the label's most successful approach—to tackle big-room convention from an idiosyncratic angle—has so far eluded him. On Abstract Language he touches on it, at least in places. The lead track is about as graceful as an oil tanker, its elements accruing at a painstaking speed. Well after the four-minute mark, it finally hits its stride through a series of hi-hat washes and an extremely long breakdown. But the materials themselves are much stranger than their deployment would suggest. The drums are loose and unvarnished, the bassline a distorted groan. A sampled monologue offers the sort of sinister, downpitched aphorisms you'd expect to hear in a Shackleton track.
"Deviation 33" pursues a similar outcome, but there's little to carry it beyond a desultory bassline. Locked Groove's remix of the track takes a hex key to it, tightening its structure until it takes on a compact techno form. The plangent IDM synths in the latter half are a nice touch, but it's hard to wring anything truly thrilling from such nondescript stuff.
TracklistA1 Abstract Language
B1 Deviation 33
B2 Deviation 33 (Locked Groove Remix)