- As one shadowy half of the Avian label alongside Shifted, Ventress has played no small part in the UK's recent turn towards all things industrial. His own output, however, is limited to a pair of 12-inches for Avian and Edit Select, which outlined a highly sculpted brand of pitchblack techno minimalism. The producer's debut EP as Worn appears on Mira, a 10-inch sub-label of Avian that purports to cover "more esoteric and experimental techno, noise, drone and industrial sound." The label's launch didn't come as an enormous surprise, given the ongoing merger of post-punk-informed techno in the Downwards/Sandwell District lineage and the off-dance floor output of labels like Blackest Ever Black. (As if to close the circle, the artwork for this EP comes courtesy of Juan Mendez, AKA Silent Servant.)
"Unconscious" and "Less Distant" are proficient but not stunning, each built around a single rhythmic churn over which white noise, parched delay trails and arid daubs of synth swirl unevenly. "No Expression," with its abyssal drone and bleached-bone percussion, is better. As things progress, creeping layers of hi-end emerge from the gloom, as if we're exploring some forgotten subterranean complex. On the title track, London duo The KVB return a favour (Worn remixed their track "Old Life" last year), supplying impressionistic squalls of guitar over plodding synth bass. The result, however, is rather limp.
Tracklist A1 Feminist feat. The KVB
A2 No Expression
B1 Unconscious
B2 Less Distant