shifted: crossed paths

Shifted's Crossed Paths is a record which pushes the formal possibilities of techno. This is the first full length work to be released on Mote-Evolver and the scope of the album format takes Shifted's vision to the next level. Shifted furthers his exploration into ominous resonances, which he began in 2011 on Mote-Evolver with the Control EP, a vinyl that seamlessly housed the unabashed peak-time "Control" and the spatial "Structure." On Crossed Paths, the breadth of Shifted's ideas is both subtle and devastating. As a producer, Shifted's methodology is like that of a sculptor -- he works principally with textures knowing precisely when to leave edges raw and fault lines exposed. Crossed Paths is constructed of 11 ominous cuts carved with precision and poise. The identity of the man behind the Shifted moniker is shrouded in question marks and his album opens just as mysteriously with the fearlessly oblique "Yearning." Setting out an ambitious internal architecture, the track expands and contracts, creating a sense of euphoric menace. This atmosphere pervades, crystallizing in the strange, swelling loops on "Coax" and the stunning pads of "Colour Of The Fall." Shifted creates hypnotic and persistent music that's perfect for the confusion of the afterhours. He refuses to stick to polarized ideas of tracks falling neatly into the categories "dancefloor" or "ambient." "Bleeding Through" is a case in point: it imperceptibly veers from one territory to another with far-off ringing and torn wooden fragments invading an almost industrial landscape. Equally, "Lexis" is flooded with urgency as sharp, angular corners are created by bleeps which cut into the track's icy exterior. However, Crossed Paths has no shortage of ideas to devastate big club rigs. "Leather" is fully-loaded techno with a disorienting top line spurting and sparking over grinding bass. On "Suffocate," the deviant tones persist, constructed out of the friction between a swung undercarriage and rock-hard beats. "More Static" pushes deep, only to be fractured by clanging metal and sinister wisps of conversation. The record closes with the glacial "Disconnected," a track that is perfectly in harmony with the album's haunting, grey-scale artwork. Having travelled the length and breadth of techno's possibilities, the final track brings unity to the release, suspending the listener once again in the abstract dimension where Crossed Paths began.