Bicep - Isles Review

SIGNALED BY A SIREN TO A SEEDY NIGHTCLUB

Having entered Isles blind, bored by music's early year doldrums, I have to say I was quite impressed with Bicep's vigorous production quality and intricate wiring of future-proof Techno. The vocal accompaniments, all seductive females luring listeners in like deceptive damsels at an industrial rave, help elucidate the sometimes frazzled, capricious beat intricacies. This is best seen on 'X,' where Clara La San's echoing refrain ricochets off sleek hallway corridors. A siren call for help or a warning, you're never quite sure with 'X's' dubious, monochromatic textures. Here, IDM plays as important a role as Bicep's heightened Future Garage, with compounding layers, each capable of moving a crowd of dancers on their own. Not all of Isles reaches this height - with 'Cazenove' and 'Lido' the two prominent detractors - but the vast majority tout consistency as comparisons to The Blaze, John Talabot, and Jacques Greene can be felt.

Isles boasts a rich aesthetic, almost too much so, as a lack of singular identity sometimes harms these tracks. They're so engrained in one another, so consistent in tonality and tempo, that singling out peculiarities is quite difficult. That doesn't apply to closer 'Hawk,' which paces itself via unusual circumstances, as machìna's anesthetized line reverberates zanily around a progressive build that bares equal weight speed and expansion. The bulk of Isles finds itself deep in the groove though, as we find on 'Sundial' with its aggressive percussive rhythms and ethereal vocals reminiscent of Hiatus' under-appreciated work, 'Rever' with Julia Kent's redoubling choir and Clark-tinged industrial drums, and 'Apricots'' stripped foreign hymn finding common ground with Jamie Xx's brand of circumferential world music. These are all examples of Bicep's tenacious machismo, though the palpable presence of female vocalists helps reel in such strong-armed aggression. It's a duality that works.