Known for his ability to bounce between iconic rave cuts (“Drone Logic”) and ambient explorations (“After Dark”), London producer Daniel Avery seems to delight—and shine—in extremes. It was only three months before the release of this album that he and Nine Inch Nails' Alessandro Cortini released Illusion of Time, an expansive, jagged soundtrack for gazing inward, after he served up bold, deep techno on 2018’s Song for Alpha. Here, on Love + Light, Avery finally rounds up all his personas—of noise, industrial, trance and beyond—and puts them together on one floor. It makes for a rather exhilarating listen: One minute, he’s up in the air with wind chimes and strings (“Katana”); the next, he’s in a tunnel heading straight for the club (“Darlinnn”). For any other artist, such a spread of sounds might feel slippery or distracted, but for Avery, it’s a perfect summation of his catalogue to date. His is a world in which fits of friction (“Searing Light, Forward Motion”) often give way to soothing synth lullabies (“Pure Life”), and droning abstractions (“Depth Wish”) are just as mesmerising as thick, howling techno (“Dusting for Smoke”). Consider the album closer “One More Morning” a kind of cleanse—a meditative deep breath to bring you back to centre.
Disc 1
Disc 2
- Rival Consoles
- Kelly Lee Owens
- Leon Vynehall
- Actress