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, Rovi

1		Fault Line
2		Patterns
3		10 West
4		Circles
5		Something Half Way
6		Another Day
7		Cause & Effect
8		Whispers and Wires
9		Hollow Town
10		Closedown

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