- The wildly popular Portland producer moves from behind the shadows of EDM with an album of crafty club music that showcases real compositional skill.
- Stepping into 2023, Greg Jones was approaching a crossroads. He had long since mastered a raucous, glitchy style showcased on his 2018 album, The Ineffable Truth, which put him in the highest tier of North American bass music artists (a wonky corner of the EDM scene). There was an issue, though. The bigger he got, the bigger the stage and the bigger the sound needed to be. While that’s not a challenge for Jones’ production by any means, it was a challenge to his legacy. How fulfilling is it to continue to mostly pump out massive bangers, especially when he demonstrated last year with "On The Platform"—a mostly beatless acid track that pushed him more towards Autechre or Aphex Twin territory—that his talent can be put towards creating beautiful music that could be enjoyed on things other than a festival sound system?
With two EPs in 2022—Illusory Tracks and Acid Disk 2—that featured some of his heaviest tracks to date, Jones uses his second LP, Paths, to puncture the American EDM bubble that he’s been stuck in for most of his career. The album demonstrates a more subdued technique on his part with "Perpetual Bloom," a blissed-out hardware improv session, and the nostalgia-soaked "Remnant" (imagine Hudson Mohawke or Rustie covering in-game Pokémon themes), letting the melodic nature of his tracks take the spotlight instead of unyielding crescendos and distorted bass. He even takes a step outside of electronic music entirely to write the solemn yet hopeful "In My Room," which consists of barely more than a dreamy keyboard.
Jones tastefully indulges in some big-room moments on Paths during "Liminality" and "Which Way." Both shed their EDM-leaning tropes, however, as Jones opts to instead deconstruct the tracks at their zeniths, particularly with the former, winding it back into half-time to leave the listeners gasping for the drop. When the sub-bass finally comes through, it’s that much more satisfying. The other beat-focused highlights are more trip-or-glitch hop drifters, with "Maybe" featuring a surprising, emotionally charged breakdown and "Dancing On The Edge" triumphantly spiraling into an array of dazzling synths.
Although he doesn’t quite reach "On The Platform"-level perfection on Paths, Jones deftly applies his signature technique of using retro rave elements in cutting-edge fashion on "Too Far Gone," creating a euphoric melody with 808 cowbells and what sounds like the pitter-patter of acidic raindrops. The predictable route here would have been for Jones to continue to play to his strengths, but this exploration of more melody-driven music opens the door to seemingly endless potential for the nearly pigeonholed producer.
Tracklist01. Familiar Frontiers
02. Too Far Gone
03. Which Way
04. Glowing Experiences
05. Perpetual Bloom
06. Liminality
07. Maybe
08. In My Room
09. Dancing On The Edge
10. Remnnat
11. Long Walk Home