- The second Relaxer record isn't as good as the first one, but you can see what it's trying to do. Relaxer was a deep dive into techno's trippy nether regions, where melodies were carried through the murk like mysterious sea creatures on underwater currents. Its follow-up dives deeper still, and with dramatic results—even if the project's anonymous producer sometimes loses their bearings down there.
"Hissing Flora" goes deepest and longest. From the start, its spindly drums struggle to cut through thick layers of FX; things only get more cloudy and turbulent over the following ten minutes. At some point, a minor-key arp appears, flashing like fish scales in the dark, and whispering voices leave broad wakes of reverb behind them. As a body trip it doesn't quite work, but as a head trip it's intense.
The rest of the EP focusses on the two elements of Relaxer's music in turn. "Weekend" ditches the drums to let the atmospheres breathe, with morse code bleeps and gothy synth chords lurking without saying much. "Climate Of Fear" features Relaxer II's sturdiest drums. At first, the extra power is refreshing, giving the track's dancing arps a bit more thrust. But even that thumping kick drum is eventually drowned in a deluge of synth pads, leaving you cold, disorientated and looking for a way back to the surface.
TracklistA1 Hissing Flora
B1 Weekend
B2 Climate Of Fear