- Ross Tones' refusal to confine himself to a sound is refreshing, if not always successful. As Throwing Snow he's fashioned moody, melodic beat music, and as Snow Ghosts, in collaboration with Augustus Ghost, he released an xx-channelling album for Houndstooth that somehow got labelled as folk-metal. Alight, his latest alias, tries to marry that variety to something more floor-focused, but fails to hit its mark.
Each track plays rhythmic games, as if to highlight the nonsense of delineating genres when the same melodies fit into be considered techno, hip-hop or drum & bass depending on what surrounds them. It's a clever trick, but little more. Take "Darqa" and "Iridis," which use percussive shifts to change the perception of a bassline. The former's sub is a growl that accelerates and slows either through snapping 140 BPM or a half-time thud. Unfortunately, both versions are pretty limp. The latter plays the ol' switcheroo, its throbbing bassline not quite gelling with the triple-time drums, before Tones whisks back the curtain to reveal that it was darkstep d&b all along. But again, neither iteration quite works.
It's the same game on "Obelisk," although here the change from anaemic techno to bouncy footwork leaves you wishing that Tones just made the good bit longer. Unfortunately, Ziro's remix isn't that edit, but a largely forgettable slab of warehouse techno. Which leaves "Caligo," the least complete yet arguably most interesting track, a brief motif of interlocking cellos and heartbeat timpani. But as with the rest of the EP, you're left ruing what could have been.
TracklistA1 Obelisk
A2 Darqa
B1 Iridis
B2 Caligo
Digital Bonus: Obelisk (Ziro Remix)