Loops Haunt: Zenith EP (Black Acre)

Another hot release from Scottish producer Scott Douglas Gordan, this time more scattered than his previous 3-track outing, Ark. Many of the tracks on Zenith are short and scattered, 7 tracks clocking in around 16 minutes total. I like that Gordan lets his ideas roam free yet doesn’t feel compelled to run them into the ground; instead brevity works to his favor here. It’s a fun mix of drum and fill samples, bleepy synths, and swirling pads. My favorites are the new spin on the cliched breaks of “Dltfaypily” or the strangely elegiac strut of “Heal,” the latter with a hum of drones amidst its scattered beats. Overall it doesn’t have the same focused fury of Ark, but it showcases his knack for fusing samples and synthesis with crazy effects, seamlessly combining elements of hip hop, free jazz, IDM and more into one unpredictable result.

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