Glasgow based producer, Galaxian, is set to drop the 11th release of Helena Hauff’s Return to Disorder imprint.
“Paradise Engineering” is an ambitiously psychedelic piece of machine mastery that will be right at home on Hauff’s label, with which she set out to bring “punk rock and techno together” in 2015. The label’s name refers to the reactionary post-WW1 art movement, Return to Order, which called for a rejection of the avant-garde in favor of conservatism and classicism. Return to Disorder has embraced experimentation and genre bending with releases from the likes of Children of Leir, Morah and Umwelt. Galaxian’s proximity to the sharp edge of quantum chaos and belief in the anarchism of nature make him a fitting addition to the Hamburg based label. “Paradise Engineering”, is a lot to unpack. Within its four tracks, Galaxian lays out an intricate web of self, spiritual and socio-technic exploration and critique. Producing the cover art alone took him on a 12 month journey, while meditating on questions of inner-alchemy, freedom and transcendence. The music covers extensive sonic topography with each of the four distinct tracks building a critical tension while creating counterpoint for one another.
Violently intricate drum machine work stakes out the boundaries of “Paradise Engineering’s” autonomous zone, where Galaxian lays out a dense thesis on the harrowed human condition. The tracks leave the listener much to ponder, especially with lines like, “You have been deprived of knowledge by frequency control” and “All possibilities exist”. Synth and bass lines emerge oscillating around each other from deep space on the EP’s second A-side, “Mutual Arising”, clean and crisp supporting elements to stratospheric strings. It gets significantly more aggressive on the B-side with “LifeForce” drilling through neck-snapping electro drums with acid patterns, whose methodic dynamism and complexity begins to sound like inter-galactic alien transmissions when blown through a dizzying effect chain.
Comfortably between literal and abstract, complex and elegant, “Paradise Engineering” is a deep and rewarding listen.
