- The Bavarian producer Recondite, born Lorenz Brunner, is a shapeshifter, shown by his releases on labels as varied as Hotflush, Absurd Recordings and Ghostly International. A few months after his track "Saudade" premiered on Tale Of Us's fabric 97, it appears on his Rainmaker EP, released on the Afterlife label alongside five other tracks that would slide easily in a Tale Of Us DJ set. The tracks share many common characteristics—mournful synths, eerie chords, tense rattles and rubbery bass. They are so alike, in fact, that I would challenge anyone at a certain hour of the morning to distinguish one from the other. That said, "Saudade"'s strings are more idiosyncratic and louder in the mix, maximising the titular melancholic effect.
Rainmaker is a relatively samey EP from a producer with a range much bigger than this. And while some accused Brunner's best-known track, 2014's "Levo," of being underdeveloped, it has more personality than anything here, as do his early EPs for his own Plangent Records. Brunner still doesn't appear to have settled on any one style—his previous LP, Daemmerlicht, harked back to the neoclassical stylings of 2013's Hinterland—but Rainmaker feels more like a made-to-order Afterlife recording than an artistic statement.
Tracklist01. Valvate
02. Rainmaker
03. Saudade
04. Rufus
05. Step Back
06. Arcane