Mint – The Metronomical Boy (Boltfish)

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As well as acting as co-founder of the Boltfish Recordings label, UK-based electronic producer Murray Fisher has previously released two albums under his Mint alias, and this third album ‘The Metronomical Boy’ follows just months after his recent collaboration alongside Will Bolton as Biotron Shelf ‘Cloud Bands And Arabesques.’ As you’d expect given both Fisher and Boltfish’s established aesthetics, the emphasis amongst the eleven tracks collected here falls firmly upon sheeny, post-IDM soundscapes, with a harder, broken rhythmic edge frequently being played off against the more ambient synth elements.

The aptly titled ‘Queasy’ provides a perfect illustration of Fisher’s stylistic approach as vaguely unsettling detuned synth pads float eerily against a rattling undercarriage of grinding, stuttered breakbeats and subtly burbling bass, the end result calling to mind a far more busily frenetic take on Boards Of Canada’s sweeping pastoralism, while the propulsive ‘Cartouche’ easily represents one of the most dance-centred offerings to emerge from Mint to date as smooth techno rhythms and brooding bass synths power beneath a gorgeous backdrop of shimmering, phased pads and wandering detuned analogue keys, evoking a sense of driving at night with what’s easily one of the biggest highlight moments here. Elsewhere, the delicate ‘Learning To Walk’ sees organic instrumental elements creeping into the mix in the form of plucked banjo, which slowly builds against a rich swell of gentle analogue synths, before brittle-sounding broken rhythms suddenly power up like some whirring machine to take the entire track off in a blur of scissoring breakbeats, before ‘Cypher’ takes things down into a brooding swirl of bass synths, harsh metallic breakbeat textures punctuating the moody atmosphere as bursts of grinding static flit between the speakers. While much of this is certainly well-travelled ground by now, ‘The Metronomical Boy’ offers up a consistently impressive and inspired listen from start to finish.

Chris Downton

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