- It's still worth believing in sonic accidents, or approximations thereof. In a perverse way, they're what give records such as this one their extra something. Perfect repetition is boring, right? There are all kinds of odd little noises snuck into the production here that act as a kind of ID collar: Not remotely Ibizan, sorry. That said, both "Better Ways of Living" and "Fighting without Fighting" are less like portraits than like pen-and-ink sketches blown up so big that every crack in the line or vibration of the fingers takes on an extra dimension.
Frankly, the grabber here (as it has been a lot lately in this area) is that it sounds like a mid-'90s minimalist drum & bass 12-inch, albeit a decisive touch slower. Somehow that makes things more languid, less menacing—the shadows don't descend upon you suddenly, but take their time creeping over. Peverelist works elegantly: "Better Ways of Living" undulates more than it hammers, the drums operating closer to the way a bass might in a regular dub track. "Fighting without Fighting" is spookier but also more immediate, thanks to a spare synth motif that makes a curtain-like backdrop for the percussion games up front. I wonder what Photek circa 1997 would have made of it?
Tracklist A Better Ways of Living
B Fighting without Fighting