Dusky – Outer

Compelling techno productions tailored for warehouse use...

The most impressive thing about the slew of 12”s Dusky have dropped in the past five years is their remarkable ability to tackle any electronic music genre and make it theirs. Never does it feel forced or disingenuous. With this new full-length, they set out to bring it all together on one LP.

Dusky’s music explores different formulas — rather than trying to break the mold completely. They’re not afraid to do something obvious, so long as it is executed with surgical precision. The jungle emcee talking about “working class music” on the intro to ‘Runny Nose’ sums it up as “a melodic bassline with a lot of crazy shit around it”. What follows is exactly that — although not the jungle riddims you might expect but instead a more dark, warehouse-tailored techno.

There’s a surprising amount of forays into this darker strand of techno on ‘Outer’, clearly built for large spaces packed with sweaty ravers, dry ice, and lasers. The amusingly-titled ‘Songs of Phase’ is the perfect example of this club-oriented approach, although even here the duo throw in a sample of Ursula Rucker just to elevate the tone a little. Dusky also bring in some unexpected features from the likes of Wiley and Gary Numan; the former landing as the debut single off the record.

Dusky’s music still retains a distinctly London sound at its heart, which will increasingly become their USP as they continue to crop up on the bigger European techno stages. ‘Outer’ ventures further into this new realm with an even more polished sound that doesn’t shy away from the cheesier moments. Still, the duo’s effortless delivery of multiple styles wrapped in one tight package remains very compelling.

7/10

Words: Jack Dolan

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