Having followed Phasic’s previous on-line releases I have been eagerly awaiting this, his (Paul Ripley’s) first full-length collection of tracks to date. ‘Many Simple Systems’ is something rather unique, it’s refreshing, dynamic and offers lush washes of clarity to a genre that has at times seemed lossed in its own development.

Album opener ‘Indigo’ captures the listener’s attention from the off, it floats along with a certain style and presence, while proving to be both mesmerising and calming. Tracks like the truly beautiful ‘Jibbon Point’ give us the last fleeting glances of the summer as it passes us by, while the well worked pastoral textures of ‘Observatories (d1g1b34tmx)’ prove both complex and elegant. Each track stands out as a cinematic journey to (as Boards of Canada do so well) the part of the brain that is reserved for our earliest child like memories and experiences.
‘Radio Bubble’ does this so well, it’s a truly masterful piece of work, frantic in its approach and seemingly an electronic instrumental love song to end a lifetime to. With well worked samples interspaced between evocative melodies and attention grabbing loops, often with a hint of hip-hop. This album calm’s the senses while making you sit up and listen.

Within a great deal of electronic music of late, there has seemed a certain essence of staleness, a nagging feeling that maybe musically trends are simply playing around on the convey belt of tweaking and re-packaging. ‘Many Simple Systems’ though proves that there are artists out there genuinely willing to stand up and be counted. So that’s 1, 2……….

Paul Patterson
9/10

For Information: http://www.phasic.co.uk