- Microthol's debut album Microkosmos in 2006 was a diverse show of their take on the Detroit electro sound. While clearly in possession of a large range of analogue gear, they picked influences from a variety of sources, and ended up with something that sounded their own. With this EP, however, it's a bit different. Track titles like "Optical Refraction" and "Schwarzschild Effect" give it away: Yes, they like Dopplereffekt, and they're not going to let you forget it while listening to this.
The title track and "Optical Refraction" are dance floor focused, electro breakbeat numbers driven by a call/response bassline, with sparse aesthetic, hard vocoders and the occasional spacey chord hovering above. Sound familiar? There's evidence of a "bringing it up to date" mentality, but in my eyes, this is plagiaristic, and actually a bit difficult to listen to as a result.
Salvation comes in the shape of "Deceptive Behaviour" and "Schwarzschild Effect." The former, sitting somewhere in between the aforementioned masked Michigan mysterons and Silicon Scally, is a heavier, funkier and more interesting stormer backed by a rising Cybotron-esque pattern; although a lack of real variation throughout lessens the club potential a bit. The latter, the EP's tour de force, builds tension throughout without releasing, and evokes hulking machinery in space; foreboding, and weirdly beautiful. Definitely a breakdown track.
"Fragile" brings us down to earth a bit. It's a chilled out Detroit funk track with a smattering of acid surfacing from the wash every so often, a nice mood setter for earlier on in the night. So, some of the variety of Microkosmos is still there, and these tracks are solid, but personally, I like to see music offering something different; at least, more so than this.
Tracklist A1 Binary Systems
A2 Optical Refraction
A3 Deceptive Behaviour
B1 Schwarzschild Effect
B2 Fragile