It’s standard practice for Autechre to follow up an album with an EP. Sometimes, they’re standalone works. In other cases, they’re reinterpretations of the prior album’s material, such as Envane. Part of the challenge is finding the parallels.
L-event (“eleventh?”) appears to be a bit of both. “tac Lacora” sounds like a remix of “1 1 is,” if that track were to start out as warped electro before glitching into disarray then collapsing into wobbly-kneed dub. Structurally, it reminds me of the long versions of “Perlence.”
“M39 Diffain” might take some source material from “cloudline,” but it feels more like Confield’s magnificent “Parhelic Triangle.” The odd chatting melody at the 4-minute mark is a great touch.
“Osla for n” lopes along in 9/8 time for its first half. The brain spends a couple of minutes finding its pulse while very subtle tones work themselves forward from the background. In the second half, it switches to a rigid 4/4 beat that sounds a bit like something from a Frank Bretschneider record (that’s a compliment).
“newbound” brings “Pir” to mind by pairing a simple melody with a seemingly random rhythm. The two are slightly out of sync, suggesting different possible time signatures (I’m thinking 5/4) at various times. It’s something they’ve done before, but it’s still affecting on both an intellectual and emotional level.
Overall, this is a nice companion piece to Exai and a substantial work in its own right. It also works as a nice primer for listeners who might be intimidated by the sheer length and density of the last record. In binary, I give it a 1001 out of 1010.
Physical copies aren’t due until later this month, but downloads are available now with preorders.