- If Jamie Roberts' EP as Bored Young Adults was his "first to withdraw into itself," as RA's Ray Philp wrote, then his debut as Kilner turns his music inside out. Little of Walk Type reaches even the level of restrained throb behind that record, as Roberts spends this six-track package slowly building from electrical hums and monotonous modular synth pulses. Compared to any Blawan track, the first two-thirds is especially abstract, given to slow swells of noise and obscured percussion, but it's all rhythmic and alive. By the time of "Auto Wave" and "Tamtara," Roberts' return to techno conventions is less satisfying despite the strange noises he weaves through the beats.
Walk Type has a way with withholding details and climaxes that brings to mind the likes of Actress's R.I.P. and Basic House's releases for Opal Tapes. The pattering hi-hat that skips through "Filk" goes in and out of earshot as its smothered by a submerged kick and distant squalls, while "Insa" shivers in a cocoon of white noise before a melody's soft glow emerges. The pieces are so textured and loose that they nearly feel organic—"Sunsera" could be an ultrasound beset by radio interference. "Otto Morph," on the other hand, is mechanical and droning, serving as a bridge between Walk Type's two poles. The ground is sturdier on the farther end, but the journey Roberts took to get there is more compelling to revisit.
TracklistA1 Sunsera
B1 Filk
B2 Insa
C1 Otto Morph
D1 Auto Wave
D2 Tamtara