Irish electronic producer Patrick Conway previously graced us last year with his ‘Vol.6’ 12” on his own Black Orpheus label, and twelve months on this latest 12” EP ‘Cobby & His Animals’ offers up the second release on the Fusion Diagnostics label, collecting together three new tracks alongside two remixes from Luca Lozano and Brainwaltzera.
From the very outset, the predominant mood here leans towards classic early nineties IDM in the vein of Warp’s ‘Artificial Intelligence compilations. Title track ‘Cobby & His Animals’ opens proceedings with an extended meanderiing glide through elegant ambient pads and noodling analogue synth sequences that places chunky electro rhythms at its core, the chunkiness of the motorik-informed beats adding more of a dancefloor edge to the airy textures that surround them.
Elsewhere’ ‘Flight Path’ places flexing electro rhythms and clattering snares against eerie-sounding minor key pads and dark bass swells, the noodling synth riffs calling to mind ‘Ex:cel’-era 808 State as ominous Doppler effect sequences dart through the mix, before ‘The Gardener’ lets the light back in, sending robust bass-heavy electro rhythms rolling against control tower vocal samples and jittery bleepy electronics, the warm phased synths that trail in the background adding a warm soulful undertow.
The remixes here manage to be just as impressive, with Luca Lozano reworking ‘Cobby & His Animals’ into retro-tinged bouncing tech-house as glittery melodic flourishes dart against stacked handclaps, synth-horn stabs and an insistent analogue bassline, while Brainwaltzera’s remix of ‘The Gardener’ takes a jagged wander out into timestretched stuttering breakbeats and curious stately synth pads, in what easily the most treacherously unpredictable offering in store here. Fans of classic braindance sounds should be kept well satisfied here.
