Cheju – Bubble Wrap (Rednetic Recordings)

London-based melodic IDM producer Wil Bolton (aka Cheju) is certainly a busy guy; as well as heading his own Boltfish Recordings label, he’s also previously released a swathe of albums and EPs on labels including Rednetic, Static Caravan and Unlabel whilst also somehow finding time to collaborate with Rednetic labelmate Mint as Biotron Shelf. This latest five track EP as Cheju shows Bolton following a trajectory not dissimilar to the likes of Plaid and Vector Lovers, marrying frequently harsh and treacherous rhythmic breakbeat elements with warm, emotive synth-pad backdrops that provide a calming counterpoint to the meticulously-programmed chaos going on beneath. Unfortunately, in this case it’s the extreme over-familiarity of the musical territory being explored by Bolton here that proves to be the biggest stumbling block when listening to this EP. While sinister, nocturnal moments such as the downright menacing and crunchy “Bubble Wrap’ clearly show that Bolton is more than capable of crafting immersive soundscapes, there’ perhaps an overriding sense of a lack of individual flair to grasp onto, resulting in an otherwise strong collection that simply doesn’t really stand out from the hordes of other melodic IDM producers out there.