Carrier: Neither Curve Nor Edge

How­ev­er, this is not to say that the four tracks are easy lis­ten­ing or even light fare. Actu­al­ly, all the con­trary. Guy Brew­er, with his lat­est moniker Car­ri­er, man­ages to achieve a depth and impact through reduc­tion and by care­ful­ly plac­ing effects, rather than over­fill­ing. Result­ing in creep­ing, hazy pro­duc­tions with all the bells and whis­tles of IDM, under­pinned by the unshake­abil­i­ty of techno.

On the A‑side, Brew­er show­cas­es his abil­i­ty to trans­form elec­tron­ic per­cus­sion sounds into some­thing that feels nat­ur­al. The drums in ​“Shad­ing” mim­ic the inten­si­ty of a boil­ing ket­tle, while ​“Into The Habit” evokes the rat­tle of a snake’s tail. Both tracks progress with a slow, omi­nous pace, fea­tur­ing deep kicks sat­u­rat­ed in reverb that cre­ate expan­sive icy landscapes.

In con­trast to the A‑side’s pow­er­ful pres­ence, the flip side adopts a more spon­ta­neous approach. It feels lighter, airi­er, and more curi­ous in its move­ments. The intri­cate­ly tex­tured stand­out track, ​“The Motions,” is dynam­ic to the extent that it demands atten­tion to its lay­ered ele­ments. The kick­drums have a boun­cy qual­i­ty rem­i­nis­cent of bas­ket­balls on maple­wood, and serene pads cre­ate a cap­ti­vat­ing back­drop for a com­plex inter­play of mechan­i­cal chirps. ​“Still So,” with its metal­lic tones, res­onates and carves through itself against a back­drop of icy pads. 

“Nei­ther Edge Nor Curve” is a rugged and enchant­i­ng form of dance music that simul­ta­ne­ous­ly calms and pro­vokes. In his sec­ond release under the Car­ri­er alias, Brew­er ven­tures beyond his com­fort zone, explor­ing uncon­ven­tion­al son­ic land­scapes that defy tra­di­tion­al shapes and boundaries.

Lis­ten to the full EP.