echium: synthetic space

The sferic label bubbles up from Manchester city center with Echium's debut suite of charming ambient gestures, neatly expanded by empathetic, weightless house remixes from local cuties, Perfume Advert and Space Afrika. Their mutual first move, Synthetic Space positions both Echium and sferic within a well-rooted tradition of Berlin kosmische, dub, and Detroit techno-informed electronics emanating from the rainy city, producing a wistful spirit that resonates with Martin Hannett's work for The Durutti Column as much as J.S. Zeiter's mutable dub techno and the humbly mannered moves of the CCO and meandyou labels. Its eight original tracks oscillate between effervescent tones and grained electronics with a carefully realized, cybernetic nuance, locating a lush balance of haptic nudge and detached process that really gets under the skin in altered states. It's active in the opening cut, "Blended Textures"' swirl of arid chords and frothing acid, and smudged deeply into the glowing pores of "Juum" and the noumenal bleep space of "Looum", and aching with a love-bot sentience in the Shinichi Atobe-esque title track, all on the A side, whereas the B side subtly edges up the bass to tactile, insistent degrees with the air-stepping "Ethereal" and "Activation" beauties giving way to the arabesque vignette, "Jazz Interlude". Special mention, then for the remixes, with Salford's Perfume Advert playing to their Anxiety Support Group tendencies with nervously deferred but soothing results, and the ascendant Space Afrika duo hustling a rolling, heads-down "Tribalist Dub" version that leaves the disc simmering for another spin. RIYL: Lee Gamble, Lanark Artefax, Jan Jelinek, Shinichi Atobe. Master and lacquer cut by Stefan Betke at Scape.