- Simian Mobile Disco may always struggle to shed their image as purveyors of raucous electro house. That is how they were first and best known, that is how many people will continue to see them, even if the guest vocalists and pop hooks are long gone. But in the last four years, in which time they've released two albums and collaborated with the likes of Bicep and Roman Flügel, James Ford and Jas Shaw have pursued their love of drawn-out dance floor grooves. Whorl, their new LP on LA's ANTI-, is arguably their most leftfield offering yet.
For what is essentially a composite of three "live" performances (all produced on a deliberately limited set-up of two modular synths, two sequencers and a mixer), Whorl is surprisingly cohesive. A certain eclecticism is hard-wired into Simian Mobile Disco's DNA, but this exploration of the ground between krautrock and techno is clear in its direction. Or, at least, it is in Whorl's first half. Over the first five tracks, the album's progression and evolution from the Big-Bang kosmische of "Redshift" (all swirling cosmic gasses and primordial-swamp vibes) to the declarative riffs of "Dervish" (somewhere between Daniel Avery and Jon Hopkins, with synths like flares in a night sky) is smoothly handled, and with more colour in its detail than such well-worn tropes might suggest. "Hypnick Jerk," which fuses the pitch-bent pops and bloops of classic Rephlex with the kind of lissom bobbling bass and drums you might expect from Caribou, is Simian Mobile Disco at their irreverent, genre-splicing best.
Unfortunately, Whorl cannot sustain that brilliant momentum. "Z Space" is a breather after which the heavily lurching "Nazard" seems unable to find a way forward. The Italo-tinged "Calyx," the cinematic "Iron Henge" and the thundering, borderline camp techno of "Tangents" are all interesting, but the album never quite regains its sense of narrative arc, nor does it deliver anything as irresistibly brilliant as "Hypnick Jerk." Still, there is much to enjoy here. Simian Mobile Disco have proven to be much more than a temporary pleasure.
Tracklist01. Redshift
02. Dandelion Spheres
03. Sun Dogs
04. Hypnick Jerk
05. Dervish
06. Z Sphere
07. Nazard
08. Calyz
09. Jam Side Up
10. Tangents
11. Iron Henge
12. Casiopeia