The follow-up to
Chris Liebing's 2018
Mute release
Burn Slow is a further venture into more textural electronic music than the relentless techno the DJ had been known for producing and spinning since the '90s. Co-producer
Ralf Hildenbeutel returns, as well as two of the previous album's guests (
Polly Scattergood and the late
Miles Cooper Seaton), while
Maria Uzor,
Ladan (formerly known as
Cold Specks), and
Tom Adams also make appearances. Also,
Mute head honcho
Daniel Miller brought his modular synth setup into the studio to add a distinctive edge to the sound.
Liebing states that he wanted to take himself out of the album as much as possible, and jokes about being lazy, which raises the question of how deeply he was involved in the creation of his own work, but it seems that he mainly took the director's chair and had the other contributors interpret his vision. Most of the tracks feature simmering, pulsating beats and crackling distortion, leaving ample room for the vocal performances, which tend to be dramatic yet dry. "Circles" (with
Adams) is closer to a
Depeche Mode-style electro-pop song than the others, while the tracks with
Uzor and
Scattergood are more cryptic and poetic. As on
Burn Slow, the instrumentals are some of the album's highlights. "10 West" scatters spooky voices among thick, swinging beats and controlled tides of feedback. "Something Half Way" has a vibrant, panned arpeggio pattern and a steady sequence of broken beats, as well as a more uplifting tone than most of the other tracks. "Closedown" is a similarly cool, shimmering trip recalling some of
Underworld's warmest, most spacious material. A dystopian cloud hangs over much of the record, but these instrumentals are among the album's brightest moments. ~ Paul Simpson