(Hassle Records/Shock)

Intricately woven English electronica built on post-rock foundations

With the release of their fourth LP in under six years, Sheffield quartet 65daysofstatic continue their transition from guitar-and-percussion-based post-rock to instrumental electro. Opening track Mountainhead reprises their earlier sound, with just a trickle of electronica beneath the off-kilter drums and electric guitar. This trickle swells to a torrent as the album progresses, and by the third track Dance Dance Dance heavy sampled beats drive the multiple layers of synthesiser. This sound makes the album feel like a logical follow-up to heftily titled 2008 EP The Distant & Mechanized Glow Of Eastern European Dance Parties. It is not all hectically paced beat-weaving however; Piano Fights’ intertwining glockenspiel, synthesiser and keyboard lines provide a gentle counterpoint to the industrial opening onslaught of the album’s initial single, Weak4. Then you have Go Complex, which in just over four minutes takes in where 65 have been and where they appear to be heading; distorted guitar, robotic vocals and sampled drums swirl in a configuration approaching math rock, before launching into an elaborately constructed avalanche of guitar, drums and countless layers of synths. The two closing tracks reinforce the new stylistic direction: Debutante with its off-beat drums and post-rock guitars enveloped in an atmospheric synthscape, and the 10-minute Tiger Girl, which plays more like Underworld, if you replaced their vocals with those same guitars. With this album, 65 haven’t so much created a new sound as successfully renovated their old one; added some extensions and given the whole thing a fetching new paintjob.

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NILS HAY

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