dextro

Winded

A follow-up album to 2006's Consequence Music, Ewan Mackenzie returns to 16k (is there some one-upmanship afoot here with 12k?) with Winded an album filled with home-listening electronica in the finest tradition. Recalling Boards Of Canada and Bibio, album opener 'Closer' begins as a blurry soundscape only to embrace scratchy old melodic textures and lolloping breaks. Not resting on any laurels, 'The Pacifist' enters into jazzier, borderline post-rock terrain, the like of which might be heard elsewhere on a Hood or Four Tet production, filling every considerable space with a tripping drum beat or a flurrying piano arpeggio. So far it's all very downbeat, but yet to come is the Ulrich Schnauss-meets-Sigur Ros bombast of 'Ilm', which brings a little emotional dynamism into proceedings. More BOC-tinted goodness abounds from 'Sanna' and the not-very Wagnerian 'Ring Cycle', whose synth washes and reversed melodies are proof that not only did music have the right to children, but it had one and called it Dextro.