In the four years that have passed since he released his debut album as Shlohmo ‘Bad Vibes’, Los Angeles-based electronic producer Henry Laufer has been a busy guy, with a slew of ensuing Eps and remixes for the likes of Banks, Drake and Robot Koch seeing his profile and fanbase increase significantly. While there’s still lots of textural lushness to this highly anticipated second album ‘Dark Red’ though, it comes from a distinctly different emotional place than its predecessor. Written during a period where Laufer was dealing with the loss of loved ones, many of the eleven tracks collected here sit closer to that short-lived genre witch-house than anything else, with queasy filtered minor key synths adding a sense of eerie coldness to spidery juke snare rolls and stripped-back hip hop beats. While the comparisons to ‘Boards Of Canada meets Burzum’ in the accompanying press notes are perhaps a bit strong, there’s certainly a poisoned (albeit beautiful) aesthetic at work here, with a sense of dread creeping just below the blurred graceful arrangements.
‘Ten Days Of Falling’ opens proceedings with eerie chattering bat-like sounds giving way to a wash eerie detuned analogue synth swells that calls to mind a more funereal take on Com Truise’s smeared out electronics as a skeletal hip hop backbeat scatters toms and kicks like stones into a pond against the intersecting harmonic tones as they bleed through the speakers. ‘Meet Ur Maker’ meanwhile takes a cold electro glide through brooding bass tones and skittering, refracted breakbeats that sees hints of rhythmic muscle flexing beneath its glassy exterior, before ‘Apathy’ reaches out into widescreen territory more akin to post-rock, as feathery guitar figures play against gauzy synth atmospheres, wordless treated vocals and spidery programmed drums. Just as you’re beginning to slide into a creepy yet comfortable sense of fugue though, ‘Fading’ arrives right near the end with a junglist rush of skittering breakbeats, smeared soul vocal fragments and warm, rich sub-bass drops. Deep, immersive and brooding – ‘Dark Red’ certainly doesn’t disappoint.
