Analog synth wizard Gavin Russom returns with his Psychic Decolonization EP, out now via Zurich’s Lux Rec. Russom spent the early part of his career as DFA Records‘ in-house synth/electronics expert, and he would go on to build instruments for musicians like LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and Black Dice’s Bjorn Copeland. The artist would also carve out his own niche as a producer of exhilarating house and techno with 2005’s The Days of Mars (DFA Records) album, created with Delia Gonzalez, as well as 2009’s Black Meteoric Star becoming landmarks on the electronic music landscape for their heady and somatic take on dance music.
Psychic Decolonization finds Russom continuing his exploration of the human/machine interface as he puts his self-designed instruments through the paces to craft four tracks of haunting, techno-pagan sonics. “In Wolfskins” channels trance-like rhythms and oblique, refracting chord stabs through a progressively ecstatic dance floor workout, while “Let The Bones Speak” melts all that kinetic energy down into a black hole of ambient swamp gas. “Blood Code” continues the EP by re-marshaling it’s techno forces into muscular arrays that bristle with violent potential, before the record’s closing track, “The Shelter Of Palms“–a funky, bass-driven cut–slows that energy a bit for a more loping, low slung acid workout. Positively wizardly!
