distance prefix - VARIANT

 Released: May 1

With this latest album, electronic artist distance prefix brings us something of a grab bag of tracks that all match each other’s vibe quite well. The pacing of the album is rather nice as well with a definitive flow to it that give plenty of breathing space for the less intense tracks here. It opens up with the heavy drum laden “IV. VARIANT” that takes some cues from industrial and dubstep. Loud metallic slamming bits of percussion are mixed in well with heavy distorted kicks and snares that keep a high pace. “Enmity” follows largely in this same vein, now with an equally heavy bass line that gives off that kind of industrial metal vibe at times. But then things get a but more mellow on the third entry “lost future,” which I particularly enjoyed as it keeps a lot of that heavy percussion that the last two tracks emphasized but takes the synths and pads in a decidedly calmer direction. 

Later on in the album, the variations become more and more pronounced as we swing from from tracks like “pareidolia” that I get an industrial drone vibe off of with a pretty minimal amount of percussion and crunchy pads and noises that feel much like a simmering tension. Conversely, we later get the superbly ambient “nociception,” which feels a bit like a major turn compared to the pounding rhythms of the track that preceded it. But it feels wonderfully relaxed and atmosphere, leaving all the rhythms behind and letting us just float in the serene soundscape. It is then followed up by the surprising little abstract lo-fi saunter that is “the next mourning.” It has all these neat little warbly synths that are wrapped around a kind of unusual rhythm that gives kind of a new age vibe but with influences of techno and industrial. Probably one of my favorite tracks here due to the intriguing combination of themes. And this is what I would say that I really like about the album as a whole. It’s a great combination of a lot of different themes, some of which might feel like they clash a bit but the pacing and organization of the album mitigates such an issue, allowing you to just enjoy the showcase of compositions.