- "Black Drift," Nathan Fake's contribution to the debut Cambria Instruments release, was his first new material since the 2012 album Steam Days. Fake promised "new textures" on the label he co-launched with fellow Border Community signee Wesley Matsell, and he delivered. This extended EP gives us a better sense of how Fake has developed in the past couple of years. One notable difference seems to be his tools: Glaive feels less manicured than much of his output, and live-sounding in the erratic way it unfolds (this might also account for a slight dip in sound quality—in places the compression simply grips too hard). Mostly, however, the EP represents a shift in focus rather than a total recalibration. Those fantastically baroque IDM melodies have been toned down, and the percussion given centre stage.
That said, there's no shortage of tunes here if you know where to look. The title track's snarling bassline is brought to heel by trademark-Fake ivory-tickling. And while there's a loping funk to the beat of "Nuuk," it's quickly sidelined by the chords that melt mouth-wateringly onto the track's surface. Elsewhere, Fake finds strength in dance floor focus. "Fortune Bru" is a superlative slice of kosmische electro; the closest we get to a melody is a humble acid line coiling in the middle distance. (The track's expansive vibe is reprised, to lesser effect, on "Audio Gold.") Even better is "Ffantasi," a twitchy drum track echoing the rugged funk of early Perlon. At first its beat, coaxed from an assortment of minuscule bleeps and whirrs, feels far too angular to work, but before long it proves irresistible. Only in the breakdown does a single cooling synth line waft into view, and within moments it's rushing back the way it came, leaving us to sweat it out for the remainder.
TracklistA1 Fortune Bru
A2 Glaive
A3 Audio Gold
B1 Ffantasi
B2 Nuuk