The Irish producer known as The Cyclist has already received a wide variety of accolades for his upcoming LP, Bones in Motion, due to his innovative style of experimental electronica. It’s lo-fi variety of not-quite-house, not-quite-dance music is a churning rhythmic chute through which all sorts muted, rickety sounds and half-dissolved textures are muddled marvellously together.
Songs are beat-scene tracks at their core; each is structured around a steady, building bass drum. Utilizing this platform, the music branches out into experimental territory, waving grainy silhouettes of chillwave, techno, and psychedelia across its sonic craft, while always remaining reliant on a mangled drum machine that rattles and hisses under heavy, filtered crushes. The first two-thirds of the LP, unpredictable and diverse, sifts through all sorts of warbling synths, sounds and electronic textures that never linger too long; the music here seems to convey a sense of fulfilling curiosities and aspiring to transcendent, off-the-beaten-track luminosity.
Around the track “Visions,” with its brooding stroll and warehouse aesthetic, the LP finds a darker and more rewarding focus. “Black Train” lives up to its name as discordant, grating bells pulse across the ambiance heralding some dark movement through the night. “Fleet Meeting” spits out warped vocal samples to induce a sort of brainwashing psychedelia. There is an apocalypse at work in the grainy whirlwinds of “Dusty,” and rippling with grimy festers, “Reels” works up an ambiance worthy of death-metal music.
This LP’s beats are far too dessicated to work as club or dance music, while its sounds are too experimental and its melodies to momentary to impart a cohesive impact. But still there’s a lot to hold your ear and arrest your attention here, making Bones in Motion well worth the listen.
