Autechre: SIGN | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

- What a decade it's been for Autechre. The British electronic titans, Rob Brown and Sean Booth, have spent the last ten years delving ever-deeper into unexplored territory of sound synthesis and generative improv. From the melodic elegance of 2010's Oversteps came 2013's Exai, a cavernous double LP offering seventeen shadowy, experimental dance cryptids waiting to be unraveled. Ae's spectrum of influence would evolve further still on the five-album tour de force elseq. At once offering expansive swathes of glistening ambient next to techno-come-power-noise hybrids, with blown out keystone tracks reaching well over twenty minutes in length.

The final piece of the puzzle came in 2018, when British experimental vanguard NTS Radio commissioned eight hours of mind-bending broadcasts from the duo. Later released as the NTS Sessions, this marathon megalith acted as an Olympic lap of honour to top off thirty years at the forefront of electronic's avant-garde. The records encompassed muscular displays of FM synthesis, breakneck rhythmic eruptions, and chasmal soundscapes resembling field recordings from outer space. It's an undeniably intimidating prospect, but few artists can even glimpse the sheer scale and scope of these sessions.

While I can wield my word-pipe to torrentially gush about these releases for hours on end, is anyone actually listening? Autechre may have found a home in the overbearing maximalism of the internet age, but their resulting body of work has become near-impenetrable to newcomers and a head-scratching turnoff for many long-term fans. SIGN, the latest release on ever-reliable electronic label Warp, sees the duo float back down to earth with an LP that's comparatively bite sized.

Here, harmony sits at the forefront, perhaps more overtly than ever before. If rhythm, timbre, and melody were the group's focus prior, they've become mere satellites orbiting each chord progression. esc desc climbs a double helix of '80's-esque synthesiser pads to a heart-wrenching summit whilst closer r cazt evokes tidal rushes of harmonic warmth. I found the ruminative, almost impressionistic nature of these tracks impossible to ignore, near-confrontational in their emotional weight. Ae's ambient forays had previously centered around establishing and exploring extended alien soundscapes, making the cyclic compositions here feel like far more of a pointed statement.

It's not all beat-less ephemerality though, staggered throughout the tracklist are several rhythm-forward cuts. Opener M4 Lema comes sputtering out of the womb amidst tongue-clicking percussion that's overgrown by a mille-feuilles of textural accompaniment. Techno influences resurface on si00, accompanied by bubbling melodic flair, the pulsating sub-bass of au14, and kick-heavy psin AM. The latter of those is easily SIGN's weakest moment, leaning on a four-to-the-floor pattern that seems only to undercut its droll, meandering chords.

While NTS and elseq read primarily as jams, SIGN shows a renewed focus on composition. Ae's recent NYT interview discussed rebuilding their entire music production 'system' following 2018's Australian tour, allowing for a more deliberately musical and layered output. gr4 bears the fruits of this revised approach as the duo bow synths like a string quartet, with accompanying counterpoint that'd make Bach soil his loins. The erratic and soaring melodies on F7 are another surprisingly forthcoming moment, harking back to the aforementioned Oversteps with a new palette of sounds.

It gives me no insignificant amount of joy to recommend an Autechre album without caveats about inaccessibility. SIGN is a release practically made for the deaf ears that Ae's recent offerings inevitably fell on. There's always been humanity in the duo's music, hidden beneath layers of self-referential systems. In stripping those back, Autechre manage to once again feel vulnerable, cautious, and imperfect.

- Boddhi Farmer.
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