AUTECHRE
Move Of Ten
WAP505
Warp Records 2010
10 Tracks. 47mins48mins
Format: CD/2×12″/Digital

Amazon UK: CD | LP1 | LP2 | DLD US: CD | LP1 | LP2 | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

It’s been barely a matter of a few months since Autechre released Oversteps, an album on which Sean Booth and Rob Brown greatly expended on the melodic aspect of their work, a move that was started with Quaristice two years earlier. Move Of Ten is a different beast altogether. Darker, grittier, nastier, more angular, this EP drags Oversteps down into the gutter and purposely tarnishes its sheen. Although an EP, at least in Warp’s catalogue referencing, Move Of Ten clocks in at close to forty eight minutes, and ten tracks. Not quite as extensive as EP7, but a pretty densely packed release all the same

After a few years when releases were increasingly few and far between, it seems as if Autechre have entered a more prolific era in recent years. First, there was Quaristice, in all its versions, then a fairly extensive tour, and two year on, came Oversteps, quickly followed by this sister EP. This surge of releases has coincided with a return to more melodic forms, and this still characterises Move Of Ten, but these are given a very different treatment here. Beats are often rawer, sounds sharper and more abrasive, with occasional industrial textures thrown in, which, right from Etchogon-S, taint this record. With its heavy, syncopated kick drum, acid squelches, and recurring train horn echoed by dissonant chords, pce freeze 2.8i is at once oppressive and hypnotic, its highly mechanical aspect rendered a tad warmer by what sounds like occasional vocal outbursts, although whether these are truly human or entirely artificial remains a mystery.

Later, nth Dafuseder.b finds Autechre in rather forceful mood, although here, the pair swap fairly minimal backdrop for widescreen reverbs, something which continues on iris was a pupil, which follows, although here, like on y7 earlier, or no border later on, Autechre adopt a resolutely lighter approach, close to that found on Oversteps. Echoing the beat-driven nth Dafuseder.b, M62, propelled by a stripped down linear beat and almost ambient electronic textures, is perhaps the closest Autechre will ever get to classic Detroit techno. The pace slows down quite drastically on the oddly jazzy ylm0, with its sweeping arpeggio and odd chord progression, but with Cep puiqMX, which closes, Autechre plunge once again deep into murky abstract waters as they work a groove from what sounds like amplified statics into a dense and eerie pulsating soundscape.

With their last album moving firmly into more melodic and evocative grounds, Autechre appeared to have partly tamed the overtly abstract nature of their music to give it a more approachable exterior, even if, deep inside, it remained a pretty complex affair. Move Of Ten is not in any way a step back, but here they submit this to a much coarser treatment and bring once again these intricate layers close to the surface. While this EP might not instantly feel as consistent as Oversteps, it actually reaches further and ultimately proves a worthy companion.

4.7/5

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Amazon UK: CD | LP1 | LP2 | DLD US: CD | LP1 | LP2 | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD