- There are a few different sides to Lorenz Brunner. The building blocks stay the same, but the way he puts them together changes. The Recondite on Acid Test makes mournful techno in the vein of Plastikman, while Recondite on Life And Death, Innervisions and Hotflush is responsible for the emotional bangers that made his name. On Ghostly, Brunner has produced his most ambient and introspective work, Hinterland, inspired by the lush woods surrounding Berlin. He returns to Ghostly, and that idea, for Corvus, an EP of twilit techno made with field recordings and hushed arrangements.
Brunner has become remarkably prolific since his rise to fame, and the steady rate has led to some diminishing returns. Corvus isn't an immediate departure, but it should soothe fans worried that Brunner was losing air from his tires. The EP has two of his most striking and delicate tracks in recent memory. "Capable," somber like an old Dial record, barely rises above a murmur, kissed with the now-signature Recondite chime melodies. Though it touches on sounds used in anthems like "Caldera," the title track skirts pastiche through its noir-ish mood, slow build and creepy samples of squawking crows.
"Kauz," on the other hand, feels generic, built on the thudding basslines and eerie synths popularized by Tale Of Us. "Huibu" is like Brunner's take on Shackleton: wobbly and meandering, but the chintzy pads try too hard to sound spooky. Even on a departure like "Huibu," the ingredients are still standard Recondite. Only Ricardo Donoso's stunning, beatless rework of "Capable" offers anything surprising.
TracklistA1 Capable
A2 Kauz
B1 Corvus
B2 Huibu
B3 Capable (Ricardo Donoso Clemency Version)