Heterotic
Love & Devotion
Label: Planet Mu
Genre: Electronica / Ambient / Experimental
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Other Formats
The tempo switches up for the 4/4 piano house of ‘Blue Lights’, a scene of nocturnal intrigue, with an ambiguous cat and mouse narrative delivered via Gravenhurst's insistent and memorable hook. ‘Wartime’ opens with a kick like a heavy heartbeat, the lyrics recalling a poignant, romantic scenario that in reality is just an idealised memory, modified and projected onto a half-imagined past. ‘Robo Corp’ – an evocative Vangelis-like instrumental – sustains that feeling, adding a subtle tension. As the blissful synthesised choirs build in the background, ‘Devotion’ presents a portrait of faded glamour and unfulfilled ambition. The mood is broken by the instrumental ‘Knell’ in which lines of synthesised guitar and harp intertwine until the track breaks into an unexpected coda, giving a sense of resolution. ‘Slumber’ takes things down to stumbling pace, the drum kicks buried in echo over a muted bassline, as the lyrics describe the solitude of empty streets in the early morning when the party is over and the detritus of a night's compulsion and excess are laid bare. ‘Fanfare’ is a suitable denouement with echoed 808 drums, mournful synthetic horns and a bassline that sound like a flickering opiated grime instrumental, finishing the album with a sense of bittersweet triumph.