Simian Mobile Disco – Whorl

Opening with two lush, beatless atmospheric tracks, Whorl feels like a very different incarnation of Simian Mobile Disco from the outset. Abandoning computers entirely, and recording huge swathes of the album in live performances beneath the Californian desert sky, they have discovered an entirely new sound, drawing on cosmic synth and Italo tropes, lacing them with gorgeous slow-motion techno (Sun Dogs), half-step garage (Hypnick Jerk), brightly-coloured, lurching synth-funk (Dervish), and low-slung, ethereal house (Calyx). 

This subtler, more measured approach eschews some of the rhythmic complexity of previous albums, and it's hard to pick a track that could serve as a DJ-friendly lead single. But the journey's the thing, and even in the more textural, ambient passaged of Whorl, there is a restrained yet adventurous sensibility at play. Nodding to classic synth music's origins while never descending into pastiche or retromania, Whorl feels like a bold new direction for the duo. [Bram E. Gieben]