While he was previously known as one half of The Forcefield Kids, after apparently finding other people too unreliable to work with, UK-based electronic producer Nick Cooke decided to pursue a solo path, with this debut album on PsychoNavigation ‘Elements’ offering up the first taste of his work under his new moniker Cuttooth. In the accompanying bio information, Cooke particularly mentions the influence of Flying Lotus’ ‘Los Angeles’ album upon his deconstructed leftfield hiphop explorations, but while’s certainly a similar emphasis on rich textural layers and unpredictable, non-quantised beats, the 16 tracks collected here pursue a far more pastoral and flowing vibe than say, ‘Cosmogramma’s pressurised and detail packed atmospheres.
It’s a factor that’s also partially due to the subtle incorporation of live instrumental elements, with the aptly-titled ‘In A Dream’ seeing slow, ebbing guitar strokes lazily chiming into focus against a blurred-out backdrop of ambient tones and dry, sparse beats in a manner that calls to mind Bibio’s delicate explorations, before ‘Sunshine’ brings the rhythmic kick down, sending gaseous sounding female vocal samples trailing over shimmering neon synths as a backbone of clattering hiphop beats gets pushed through all manner of processing, slow bluesy guitar bends poking out like flowers beneath all the rubble. Elsewhere, ‘Infinite Hum’ fuses a buzzing gamecore synth groove to snapping electro-hiphop rhythms while vintage samples centring on the topic of nightmares play about the very edges, heightening the underlying sense of building tension, before ‘This War’ sees Bridie Jackson contributing gorgeous folk-soul guest vocals to a oceanic backdrop of rippling synths, chiming, delayed-out guitar chords and subtle clicking rhythms, in what’s easily one of the biggest highlights here. While the whole post-Flying Lotus wonky hiphop school seems to be an increasingly packed one these days, with ‘Elements’, Cuttooth succeeds in distancing himself from the pack by following his own distinct muse.
Chris Downton
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