Son Lux – Weapons EP

 

Building six tracks from one takes some doing, but that’s the gauntlet Son Lux’s Ryan Lott throws down on the Weapons EP. As the standout cut from 2008’s fascinating At War With Walls & Mazes, the original seems a sound jump-off point, yet Lott’s solo efforts on Weapons II and Weapons V rinse out like origami-shaped outtakes. Reinterpretations from fellow Anticon stable mates and a peer from a similar classical background to the prodigious maestro are more transfixing: Polyphonic’s pinball percussion canonises Weapons III, while Alias weaves a rewarding break beat over the original vocal before dropping a rare verse of his own, leaving Nico Muhly to soak Weapons IV in gnarly viola. It’s an uncomfortable listen at first, but one with various payoffs. [Billy Hamilton]