English duo Dronelock (Martin Cartledge and Alexander Church) met Yerevan counterpart T_st (Davit Sukiasian and Garik Apinian) way back in 2007, but only years later did the four friends pool their respective resources to produce The Eternal Now, an accessible, layered and seamless collaboration. T_st boasts but a tiny discography at the moment of writing (although apparently reams of unreleased material), which relative greenness is belied by the superior writing, playing and arranging skills on display in tandem with Dronelock.
The Eternal Now delights in playful beats scaffolding melodies with smiles on their faces (and the occasional grimace, as on ´Navzike´). Interlocking jigsaw pieces of techno, pop, dub, ambient, industrial-strength noise and celestial lounge (´RT2 Anemoi´) all snap effortless into place. The outer space Orientalism of ´Syringa x Persica´, featuring a voice named Lilith perched far off on a distant star, positively levitates before the honeycombed dub of ´RT3 Aqua´ gently sets us down again. An album that beats as it sweeps as it cleans, eschewing the fussy or overly elaborate, The Eternal Now is a soundbook of immediate, clear and gleaming sonic gestures.
https://soundcloud.com/shadow-story-recordings/dronelock-t_st-sg003-sphere-gear-preview
